






COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 













































































I 










♦ 
















































t* 




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Rear Admire Richard E. Byrd 


















The Sky craft Book 


By 

Laura B. Harney 

TEACHER OF SCIENCE, WASHINGTON JUNIOR HIGH 
SCHOOL, MOUNT YERNON, NEW YORK, AND 
LICENSED AIRPLANE PILOT 

WITH A FOREWORD BY 

Roland H. Spaulding 

INSTRUCTOR IN EDUCATION, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, NEW YORK 
UNIVERSITY, AND SPECIALIST IN AERONAUTICAL EDUCATION 
FOR THE DANIEL GUGGENHEIM FUND COMMITTEE ON 
ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION 



5 


D. C. HEATH AND COMPANY 

BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO 

ATLANTA SAN FRANCISCO DALLAS 

LONDON 








Copyright, 1932, 

By Laura B. Harney 

No part of the material covered 
by this copyright may be reproduced 
in any form without written per¬ 
mission of the publisher. 

3 B 2 




Printed in the United States of America 


ms Sl w 


(cVi n 50 215 




FOREWORD 


Where the youth of yesterday dreamed of a romantic 
career in the fields of railway and maritime transportation, 
the youth of today looks forward longingly to an interest¬ 
ing and lucrative career in the field of aviation. 

The demand for literature upon this subject has, there¬ 
fore, been great; probably it has been most insistent in the 
classrooms and libraries of our public schools. 

To meet this need the author has prepared this book, the 
scope and content of which will appeal singularly to boys 
and girls of school age. Its accuracy and loyalty to detail 
are vouched for by the fact that the author is a licensed 
airplane pilot of several years’ experience, a well-trained 
and experienced teacher in the public schools, and a person 
trained in modern methods of research. This book pre¬ 
sents the limitations of aviation as well as its glorious pos¬ 
sibilities. It will provide a sane experience as well as an 
inspiration to those who read it. 


Roland H. Spaulding 


•• - - 






















































































































































































































































































* 







































CONTENTS 


PART I 

HISTORY AND ROMANCE 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Creations of the Beginners.3 

II. Some First Flights. 27 

III. Arctic Exploration.55 

IV. In the Antarctic. 74 

PART II 

AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 

V. Types of Balloons and Dirigibles .... 89 

VI. Some Great Airships of Germany and England 93 
VII. Uncle Sam’s Airships. 102 

PART III 

AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 

VIII. Periods in the Development of the Airplane 113 

IX. Some Types of Power Craft. 122 

X. The Power Plant. 132 

XI. Instruments. 143 

XII. Forces Acting on a Plane. 148 

XIII. Features in Design. 152 

XIV. The Weather and Its Effect on Air Navigation 158 



vi CONTENTS 

PART IV 


CHAPTER 

XV. 

MOTORLESS CRAFT 

The Parachute. 

page 
. 177 

XVI. 

Gliders. 

. 187 

XVII. 

PART V 

RULES AND REGULATIONS 

Some Air-Traffic Rules. 

. 209 

XVIII. 

Earning a Pilot’s License .... 

. 215 

XIX. 

An Air Flight. 

. 224 

XX. 

Maneuvers. 

. 231 

XXI. 

PART VI 

SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 

Airports . 

. 243 

XXII. 

Air-Mail and Air-Transport Lines 

. 255 

XXIII. 

Opportunities in Aviation .... 

. 265 

XXIV. 

Growth and Future of Aviation . 

. 273 

XXV. 

PART VII 

MAKING MODEL PLANES 

Nature’s Models. 

. 297 

XXVI. 

Homemade Models and How to Build Them 

. 299 



PART I 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 

CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 
SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 
ARCTIC EXPLORATION 
IN THE ANTARCTIC 























































■ 







. 






* 
































CHAPTER I 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 

Long ages ago when semicivilized man was pursued by 
some huge wild beast, he must have gazed upward at the 
creatures of the air and longed for wings like theirs, 
whereby he might climb into the sky and escape his hungry 
enemy. 

In the myths and folk tales of early peoples reference 
is made to supernatural beings floating through the air, or 
to men who attempted to use wings for flight. 

An oft-heard story is that of Daedalus and his son, 
Icarus, who, according to Greek mythology, found them¬ 
selves confined in a strange, roofless structure on the 
island of Crete. Daedalus had an inventive mind, and 
he set to work fashioning wings for himself and his son. 
These wings were fastened on with wax, and by their aid 
father and son took off and sailed high above the prison 
walls. Icarus, gaining confidence in his new adventure, 
forgot his father’s advice not to go too near the sun lest 
the wax melt and his wings fall off. Onward he soared 
to new altitudes, when lo, the wax melted and he lost 
his wings and plunged headlong into the sea below. 
Daedalus, bemoaning the fate’of his son, flew on, how¬ 
ever, until he came to Sicily. Not caring to use his wings 
3 


4 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


for future flights, he placed them in the temple of the 
great god Apollo. 

Of Bladud, mythical king of Britain, it was written that 

“From a towre he thought to scale the sky. 

He brake his neck because he soared to high.” 

Another legend tells of a Saracen who in a desire to 
please his emperor gave an exhibition flight — a flight 
which, however, ended with fatal results to himself and his 
ambitions. 

Downward through the centuries one finds vague stories 
of the magical flights of witches and wizards. Even today 
a familiar symbol of Halloween is the old witch, sailing 
through the sky astride her broomstick. 

Early Theories Regarding Flight 

Then, too, from time to time there appears the account 
of some one whose imagination far surpassed that of his 
fellows. Even in the thirteenth century the inquisitive 
friar, Roger Bacon, set forth an idea that there could be 
made “some flying instrument so that a man sitting in the 
middle and turning some mechanism may put in motion 
some artificial wings which may beat the air like a bird 
flying.” The good friar lived in an age of superstition; 
so, lest he be denounced for favoring some black art, he 
never tried to put his ideas into practice. 

About the time that Columbus was discovering new 
lands there lived the famous artist, Leonardo da Vinci, 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


5 


whom the world remembers as the painter of beautiful 
pictures, but who was also an architect, an engineer, and 
a scientist. One may read his Treatise on the Flight of 
Birds and discover that this man of the fifteenth century 
had figured out a great many principles of flight which 
designers of airplanes put into practice in this, the twen¬ 
tieth, century. His drawings, based upon his keen ob¬ 
servations of birds and showing the essential ideas of the 
helicopter and the parachute, are still of considerable value. 

Two men of the sixteenth century, a painter, Guidotte, 
and a Venetian architect, Veranzio, seem to have been suf¬ 
ficiently interested in da Vinci’s theories to attempt to 
put them into practice; but both were unsuccessful in 
doing so, and da Vinci’s ideas on flying were neglected for 
nearly four hundred years. 

In the seventeenth century there were several men 
worthy of mention in the history of flight; two of them 
were Giovanni Borelli and Francesco Lana. 

Borelli, like da Vinci, was a keen observer of birds. He 
figured out the relation between the power of the bird’s 
muscles and the weight of its body and applied the same 
ratio to the power of a man’s chest muscles and the weight 
of his body. He came to the conclusion that in order to 
sustain himself in flight with wings attached to his arms, 
man’s chest muscles would have to be many times larger 
than they are, or if they were to remain the same size, his 
body weight would have to be very much less. His con¬ 
clusion was, “It is impossible that men fly craftily by their 
own strength.” 


6 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


But man was determined to get into the air by one way 
or another, and his imagination led him into devising some 
means of getting there other than the flapping of wings. 
Francesco Lana was one such man with a novel idea for 
flight. He would build a kind of platform and attach 
vacuum globes on each corner. These globes, devoid of 
air, would be so much lighter than the surrounding air 
that they not only would rise, but would also take the plat¬ 
form along with them. Sails and oars would be used to 
control the direction. Lana was a monk whose vows of 
poverty prevented him from using funds to carry out his 
project. If he had put his theory to the test he would 
have found that his copper globes, with no air or gas of 
any kind inside, either would have collapsed or, if strong 
enough to withstand the outer pressure of 14.7 pounds per 
square inch, would have been too heavy to rise at all. 


Early Experiments with Balloons 

It was not, indeed, until the eighteenth century that the 
first balloon was contrived. 

In Annonay, France, there lived a paper manufacturer 
who had two sons, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier. Both 
boys were interested in science. Much of their reading 
in this subject was about the nature of the atmosphere 
and the gases of which it is composed. They experimented 
with paper bags filled with heated air and found that the 
bags would rise in the air. Then they made larger de¬ 
vices for holding hot air. Their creations began to at- 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


7 



Brown Brothers 

The Montgolfier Balloon 

tract attention, and on June 5, 1783, they gave a public 
demonstration. When they were summoned to the French 
Court at Versailles to repeat their experiment, they placed 
in their gayly painted balloon, made this time from water¬ 
proof linen, three occupants — a sheep, a cock, and a duck. 
After an ascent of 1,500 feet, the balloon came down safely 
with two of the voyagers none the worse for their unusual 
trip. The cock seemed to be suffering discomfort which 
was thought at first to be an effect of the 'tremendous’ 
altitude to which he had been carried. Later it was found, 
however, that his wing had been broken, probably by a 
kick from the sheep. 

The next step was for some human being to take an air 



8 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


voyage. At first it was planned to select a convict from 
the prison and give him his freedom if he came down 
alive. But a man named Pilatre de Rozier argued that 
great honor would be due such a person — honor too great 
to be bestowed upon one convicted of a crime — and he 
begged to be allowed to take the trip himself. At first he 
ascended in a captive balloon, and a month later, on No¬ 
vember 21, 1783, he and Marquis d’Arlandes sailed over 
Paris in a free balloon, the first men in the history of aero¬ 
nautics to invade the region above the earth. 

A few days later a certain Professor J. A. C. Charles, who 
had been experimenting with balloons filled with hydrogen, 
and his companion, Mr. Roberts, made a notable 25-mile 
flight from Paris to Nesle in a balloon filled with this 
‘inflammable gas/ as hydrogen was then called. 

Ballooning became the craze of the time, and interest 
spread over Europe and across the channel to England. 
The first aerial voyage in that country was made by an 
Italian, Lunardi, who won great fame as a balloonist. 
Women, with as keen an interest in air flights then as now, 
became spectators at the assemblages to witness balloon 
ascensions. On June 4, 1784, seven months after De 
Rozier had taken his first balloon trip, it is recorded that a 
woman, Madame Thible, made an aerial flight with a 
French aeronaut which lasted for forty-five minutes and 
which was witnessed by Gustavus, King of Sweden. 

The first ‘over-water’ hop was made by Jean Pierre 
Blanchard and an American doctor, John Jeffries, of 
Boston, when in 1785 they took off in a balloon from Dover 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


9 


and landed near Calais, in France, having crossed the 
English Channel. 

These European balloon flights attracted the attention 
of Americans, and on the invitation of Benjamin Franklin, 
Blanchard came to America. He started from Phila¬ 
delphia one cold January morning in 1793 on an air flight 
over America. He carried an American flag and a pass¬ 
port presented to him by George Washington, who was 
then President of the United States. After six hours in 
the air he landed near Woodbury, in New Jersey. Here 
he loaded his deflated balloon on a farm wagon and carried 
it back to Philadelphia. 

From 1804 to 1850 nothing important occurred in bal¬ 
looning. Since balloons were wholly dependent upon 
the air currents for speed and direction, they were not 
of much use except as attractive spectacles at pleasure 
resorts or as a source of daring pastime for the adven¬ 
turous. 

The French were the first to make use of a balloon in 
warfare, when they built one and used it in a campaign 
against the Austrians in 1794. 

During the American Civil War balloons were used. 
Professor F. S. C. Lowe, an enthusiastic aeronaut, made 
an “official ascent on July 24, 1861, and had the satisfac¬ 
tion of watching the movements of the Confederates after 
the battle of Manassas (Bull Run) and of being shot at.” 
Descendants of Professor Lowe have presented to the 
Smithsonian Institution at Washington a copy of a note 
which Lincoln wrote to General Winfield Scott directing 


10 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


him to grant an interview to Lowe to discuss the use of 
balloons in warfare. A telegram, said to be the first mes¬ 
sage from a station in the air to one on the ground, was 
sent to President Lincoln by Mr. Lowe, June 18, 1861. 
In this message he thanked the President for the encour¬ 
agement he had received in “demonstrating the availa¬ 
bility of the science of aeronautics.” These documents 
have proved that Lincoln was ‘air-minded/ that he was 
personally interested in the early development of aero¬ 
nautics in America. It is said that the Confederates, rec¬ 
ognizing the value of balloons but handicapped by lack 
of materials, sent out an appeal to their fair ladies for a 
contribution of silk articles from their wardrobes. With¬ 
out doubt these patriotic ladies responded generously, and 
when the balloon was finished it must have rivaled the 
earliest model in color and design. When it was captured 
by the North, General Longstreet wrote, “With it went the 
last silk dress of the Confederacy.” 

Today, interest in free ballooning centers around the 
Gordon Bennett International Balloon Race. In 1930 
the nineteenth race was held, when contestants from Bel¬ 
gium, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States 
left the Municipal Airport at Cleveland, Ohio. The Gor¬ 
don Bennett Trophy and one thousand dollars in cash 
went to Ward T. Van Orman, an American entrant, who 
covered over 550 miles. This, however, did not better the 
record which was made in October, 1910, when Alan R. 
Hawley and Augustus Post covered 1173 miles from St. 
Louis to the wilds of Labrador in their free balloon. 



Edwin A. Vorpe 

An Entrant in the Gordon Bennett Balloon Race, 1930 








12 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


The First Dirigibles 

It was in 1852, when Henri Giffard, experimenter with 
steam engines, constructed a small engine and installed 
it in a cigar-shaped balloon, that the way was prepared 
for the development of the modern dirigible. 

Germany gives credit to Paul Haenlein for having con¬ 
structed and successfully flown the first rigid type of air¬ 
ship. Accompanied by several friends, Haenlein piloted 
his dirigible over the city of Bruenn in December, 1872. 
This airship was propelled by engines fed with illuminating 
gas, and its shape was very similar to that of dirigibles 
built many years later. Lack of funds prevented Haenlein 
from carrying on his experiments. 

An Austrian named Schwartz built the first all-metal 
rigid dirigible, which, however, proved unairworthy and 
was destroyed on its first landing. 

At the end of the nineteenth century, with the devel¬ 
opment of the gasoline motor, came notable advances in 
dirigible construction. 


The Experiments of Santos Dumont 

Alberto Santos Dumont, a wealthy young man from 
Brazil, began his aerial exploits in Paris. His striking 
personality and his good fortune in escaping disasters 
aroused the enthusiasm of all France about his “pic¬ 
turesque and spectacular performances in the air.” He 
had a venturesome disposition and was keenly interested 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


13 


in all mechanical devices. Like the Wright brothers, the 
new sport of motorcycling appealed to him. He took one 
of his motorcycle engines and fitted it into a balloon. The 
experiment proved to be successful. From that time on he 
built and flew one airship after another. He is given 
credit with having built at least fourteen airships. His 
book, My Airships, tells of his eight years’ work on lighter- 
than-air craft. It was in 1905 that he turned his atten¬ 
tion to airplanes. 


Origin of the Zeppelin 

While Santos Dumont was attracting attention in 
France, there was a man in Germany, Count Ferdinand 
von Zeppelin, who was building rigid airships and to whose 
perseverance and ceaseless labors the modern dirigible owes 
its successful development. 

It was during the Civil War that Count Zeppelin, then 
a young man and a friend of Mr. Lowe, served as a balloon 
officer with the Union Army. It was over thirty years 
later in his own country that he completed his first dirigible. 
Despite the success of his aircraft, neither the German gov¬ 
ernment nor individuals would have anything to do with 
helping to finance the little Zeppelin Company. For five 
long years this man traveled far and wide seeking capital. 
Finally the government agreed to buy an airship if one 
could be made to remain in the air for twenty-four hours. 
On July 11, 1908, Count Zeppelin startled the world by 
flying over the Swiss Alps to Lucerne and back again to 


14 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


the little town of Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, a 
place where airships are still being built. 

Count Zeppelin was no longer a young man. When his 
struggling company faced financial disaster, the people 
of Germany, whose sympathy was aroused for him, raised 
a million and a half dollars and gave it to him to use as he 
wished. But the inventor took only enough for his per¬ 
sonal needs; with the rest he established the Zeppelin 
Endowment for the Propagation of Navigation. 

A short time before his death in 1917 he said, “My in¬ 
vention belongs to the people, and even today many 
capable men are working to further its development. We 
still have far to go, but I know that they will even¬ 
tually be joined by the best minds all over the world. 
That is why I feel perfectly assured that my ideas will 
live.” 

His ideas have lived and are being carried out in many 
different countries of the world. 


Aircraft Heavier than Air 

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries little 
progress was made in the development of machines 
heavier than air. During this period, flight, for the most 
part, was confined to rude types of gliders, to the use of 
the free balloon, or to the unsuccessful trial of devices for 
propulsion of aircraft which were dependent upon the 
muscular power of the operator. Some few students of 
the theory of flight, however, did make accurate calcu- 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


15 


lations as to the properties of the air and its effect upon 
objects moving through it. 

Such a one was Sir George Cayley of England, who lived 
between 1774 and 1857, and who has been called the 
‘Father of British Aeronautics/ As a boy, he became in¬ 
terested in the problems of flight, and at an early age he 
was able to work out many sound conclusions concerning 
the resistance of air. He figured, for example, the area of 
surface necessary to support a given weight, and discovered 
the peculiar advantages of the curved, or cambered, wing. 
He wrote articles on aeronautics for magazines, and it is 
said that he never made claims which he could not support. 

Two Englishmen of the middle nineteenth century, 
W. S. Henson and John Stringfellow, not only had theories 
on flight, but constructed crude airplanes in which engines 
were to be installed. They took out patents protecting 
their inventions and went so far as to attempt to organize 
a company in 1843 called ‘The Aerial Steam Transit Com¬ 
pany.’ Their scheme for raising funds failed. Henson 
married and came to America. Stringfellow continued 
his experiments. He built a small model which, with the 
tiny steam engine included, weighed only eight pounds. 
When tested in a long room, the model actually flew, the 
first engine-driven airplane ever to do so. This was in 
1848. 

Another, a triplane model, was exhibited at the First 
Aeronautical Exhibition held at the Crystal Palace in 1868. 
Today Stringfellow’s models may be seen in the Victoria 
and Albert Museum in London. 


16 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Men could not forsake the idea of motion through the 
air with wing-flapping devices, and after the invention of 
the steam engine and its application to model planes, at¬ 
tempts were made to perfect wing-flapping airplanes. 
The helicopter with its rotating propeller occupied the 
minds of inventors, especially those of France. 


Otto Lilienthal 

In the history of aeronautics in the latter half of the 
nineteenth century the name of Otto Lilienthal, a German, 
stands forth. Like the Montgolfier brothers, the Roberts 
brothers, and the Wright brothers, Otto and his brother 
Gustave were enthusiastic about flying. 

The Lilienthal family had made plans to come to 
America, when their father died. Otto was just thirteen 
years old, and he and Gustave had already begun their 
experiments with gliders. To the wings of one of their 
first gliders they planned to attach bird feathers. Their 
early models were flown indoors in a large room. Their 
first real glider had a wing spread of only about six feet 
and a depth of three feet. These wings were fastened 
on their backs by ropes, and their flights were taken secretly 
on moonlight nights to avoid the ridicule of their play¬ 
mates. 

Gustave’s interest in flying waned, but when Otto went 
to Berlin to study engineering he took his materials with 
him and continued work on his gliders. In 1889 he wrote 
a book on his observations of birds and on the results of 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 17 

his experiments — a book which is read today with much 
interest. 

At first Lilienthal used a spring board for his take-off, 
but later he built an artificial hill about fifty feet high. 
On a good flight he could land three hundred feet from the 
center of this hill. The hill was hollow like a cave, and it 
was in this space that he kept his gliders. 

Lilienthal had made over two thousand successful glides 
by 1896 and was about to try out a power-driven machine 
which he had constructed. He believed that “a cylinder 
of compressed carbonic-acid gas released through a hand- 
operated valve would keep the machine in the air for 
four minutes.’’ On the very day that he had planned to 
test his power machine he went for a long flight in a glider 
on which he had installed a new form of rudder. When 
he had reached the height of fifty feet, in an attempt to 
gain speed, he let the glider nose down so far that it crashed 
to earth. He was so severely injured that he died the 
next day. 

Lilienthal is considered one of the great pioneers in avia¬ 
tion. His enthusiasm and his careful scientific records 
of his work inspired his followers to carry it on after him. 


Percy Pilcher 

In England Percy Pilcher became interested in aviation 
through reading the accounts of Lilienthal’s successful 
flights in Germany. By the time that Pilcher was nine¬ 
teen he had completed six years of service in the British 


18 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Navy. He then resigned, studied to be an engineer, and 
began his work on gliders. After completing his first 
glider, which he called the Bat, he visited Lilienthal and 
made several glides in a biplane glider which Lilienthal 
had constructed. 

After returning to England he made a second glider, 
which he called the Beetle because he said it looked like 
one. His third he named the Gull, and the name of a 
fourth was the Hawk. The Hawk was a sturdy craft with 
a very simple form of undercarriage consisting of two 
bamboo rods from which wheels were suspended on steel 
springs to support the glider when it was resting on the 
ground. To a horizontal tail surface there was attached 
a vertical surface, and from the upper part of this vertical 
surface guy wires ran to the main frame. Pilcher intended 
to install an engine in the Hawk. % He had trouble in find¬ 
ing one light enough; so he started the construction of 
one himself. It was never installed in the glider, how¬ 
ever, for in September, 1899, while he was doing some 
exhibition gliding in unsuitable weather, one of the guy 
wires broke and his machine fell to the ground. Pilcher 
received severe injuries from which he died two days 
later. 

Instead of suspending his body from his machine and 
running along to take off, he had employed a method simi¬ 
lar to that in use today. By sitting in the glider and having 
some boys pull his craft along with a rope, he was carried 
upward; then the rope was cut loose. Though Pilcher’s 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 19 

experiments covered a period of only four years, he ranks 
as one of the great men in the history of glider flight. 


Other Early Airmen 

Even the tragic deaths of Lilienthal and of Pilcher could 
not discourage the enthusiasts in their belief that the era 
of controlled and extended human flight was near at hand. 
In America, too, there were men whose enthusiasm for 
flying was leading them to glider construction and flights. 

Professor J. J. Montgomery is reported to have begun 
his experiments with gliders in 1884. It was he who 
added to the glider such control surfaces as warped 
wings, elevators, and rudder. He also employed a novel 
method of launching his glider. He would attach it to a 
hot-air balloon and, ascending to any desired altitude, 
would take off and glide to earth. Wilkie and Defolco 
were two other pilots who took off from hot-air balloons 
and gave equally striking exhibitions. 

Octave"Chanute was a civil engineer of French descent 
who lived in Chicago. His first experiments were con¬ 
ducted with a machine similar to Lilienthal’s, but with 
only one pair of wings. Later he used one having five 
wings with a sixth pair for a tail. With the help of Mr. 
A. M. Herring he constructed his biplane glider and by 
1896 was launching it successfully from sand dunes on the 
shores- of Lake Michigan. He made more than seven 
hundred glider flights. 


i 


20 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



Underwood, and Underwood 

The Wright Brothers' Airplane at Fort Myer, Virginia 
The Wright Brothers 

From Chanute the Wright brothers received courteous 
answers to their many inquiries about gliders and flying. 
Wilbur and Orville Wright were fortunate boys in having 







CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


21 


parents who were always alive to the interests of their 
children. Perhaps the boys’ enthusiasm for flying was 
kindled when their father brought home to them a flimsy 
little toy made of white paper and shiny strips of bamboo. 
When it was released it shot to the ceiling, where it bounced 
along until it finally settled to the floor. The boys called 
it a ‘bat/ but their father said its correct name was a 
French term, a helicoptere. When the original toy was 
worn out, the boys constructed another, using for motor 
power rubber bands exactly like those that boys use today 
in making their advanced flying models. 

Wilbur was eleven years old and Orville seven when they 
first played with this toy, but they never forgot the curi¬ 
osity its performance aroused or their efforts to find out 
the reasons why it flew. 

The brothers entered the business world through the 
publication of a newspaper and a weekly magazine. They 
next became interested in bicycling and opened a repair 
shop in Dayton, Ohio, their home town. Later they manu¬ 
factured bicycles. The death of Lilienthal in 1896 and 
the account of his achievements in gliding renewed their 
interest in flying. 

They began a systematic study of all the material they 
could find relating to aviation. They observed the flight 
of birds. They learned a great deal about air currents and 
how they are affected by every slope, every house, every 
little stream, and every dusty roadway. They read what 
other men had done and what still others were doing whose 
interest was similar to their own. They read of Sir Hiram 


22 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Maxim’s extensive experiments on a huge steam-driven 
biplane; they studied the theories of Montgomery; they 
listened to the stories about Dr. Langley and his success¬ 
ful flying model airplanes; they corresponded with Octave 
Chanute; and they began experimenting on gliders of their 
own. Then one day they moved their glider parapher¬ 
nalia to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, where, the United 
States Weather Bureau in Washington had informed them, 
they would find a hilly place with steady and moderate 
winds suitable for further experiments. 

Here they worked and labored on their machines, with 
which they made numerous glides from Kill Devil Hill, 
four miles from Kitty Hawk. Here they learned the ad¬ 
vantages of twisting, or ‘warping’, a part of the wings. 
These warped wings, together with the rudder, would give 
them control over their glider, so that it could be ma¬ 
neuvered in the air. 

For three summers they continued their experiments 
at Kitty Hawk, but when they returned to Dayton in the 
fall of 1902, their minds were full of ideas about a power 
plane which they had decided to build the coming year. 
The greatest difficulty was to get an engine light enough, 
but with sufficient power to drive the propeller and keep 
the machine in the air. They made an engine of their 
own, which they installed in their plane. 

At this same time Professor Langley was completing a 
machine which he called an aerodrome, for the building of 
which Congress had appropriated $50,000. On December 
8, 1903, Langley’s machine made its second unsuccess- 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 


23 


ful attempt to get into the air. The public had assembled 
to witness the flight, and being disappointed, it had been 
bitter in its ridicule of flying in general and of Dr. Lang¬ 
ley’s apparent failure in particular. 

It is little wonder that the Wright brothers wished 
secrecy to attend their first attempts at flight. On De¬ 
cember 14, Wilbur had actually got this machine into 
the air, but being overanxious, he had nosed it up too 
steeply, and after only three and one-half seconds it had 
stalled and made a poor landing, injuring some minor parts 
of the framework. 

But undaunted, the brothers had repaired the damage, 
and on December 17, 1903, Orville took his turn at flying. 
He started the motor and took his place in a prone position 
in the open framework of the plane. Lo! The machine 
arose and carried him through the air for twelve seconds, 
landing 120 feet from the starting place. The flight had 
been witnessed by only a few persons, who little realized 
at the time that they had been the spectators at a scene 
that would go down as an epoch-making event in aviation 
history. 

Wilbur and Orville Wright soon realized that they were 
real contributors to the progress of science, but their path 
upward to recognition was as tedious and wearisome as the 
one up the sandy hills at Kitty Hawk over which they had 
dragged their early gliders. They continued their experi¬ 
ments on a level plain a few miles from Dayton. They 
took out extensive patents on planes which they built 
and flew. For five years neither the public nor the press 


24 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


showed much interest in the Wrights. After building a 
machine that had remained in the air for thirty-eight 
minutes and that had covered over twenty-four miles, 
the Wright brothers felt confident enough in their success 
in flying to hope that their government would become 
interested and perhaps buy their inventions. Their spirits 
must have sunk low, indeed, when a delayed message came 
from a government clerk saying, “We cannot consider 
your suggestion that we buy your inventions or that we 
send a commission to investigate them. We have neither 
time nor money to waste on a couple of Ohio cranks. We 
are not interested.” You must recall that the government 
had received a great deal of adverse criticism when Pro¬ 
fessor Langley’s machine, on which it had spent thousands 
of dollars, had been proclaimed a failure in 1903. The 
French government, however, became interested and in¬ 
vited the Wrights to give flight demonstrations in France. 
It was to Kitty Hawk that they went again in 1908 to try 
out their new planes. But this time newspaper men fol¬ 
lowed them, and the stories of their exploits filled the news 
columns. The Wright brothers became the most talked-of 
men in the world. Wilbur took his invention to France, 
where he became the hero of the hour and established an 
unheard-of record for those days by remaining in the air 
two hours and twenty minutes. At last the United States 
government awoke to the realization of the importance of 
aviation. It offered $25,000 for a machine that would 
carry two men ten miles at a speed of forty miles, an hour. 
For every extra mile of speed per hour an extra $2,500 was 


CREATIONS OF THE BEGINNERS 25 

to be paid. Orville Wright brought his plane to Fort 
Myer and entered the contest. 

A large crowd was assembled — President Taft and 
members of Congress were there; men, women, and chil¬ 
dren from far and near had come to see Orville Wright 
fly. He appeared wholly oblivious to the crowds. Had 
he not been making flights for over five years? He and 
Lieutenant Benjamin D. Foulois, his companion, took 
their places. The plane slid forward on a monorail, a single 
rail which in those days was used to make the take-off 
smoother and faster. It rose in the air. As the crowds 
watched, it sailed away. For a few minutes it became 
lost to view; then it appeared again and after a graceful 
circle over the field landed safely. It all happened in 14 
minutes and 42 seconds, but the plane covered the distance 
at a speed of over 42 miles an hour; accordingly Orville 
Wright received the government prize of $25,000 plus 
$5000 for the extra two miles in rate of speed. 

But money was not the greatest reward to these men 
from Ohio. They had proved to their government that its 
sons were capable of teaching the world how to use wings 
in the air. 

The Wright Company for the manufacture of airplanes 
was formed with Wilbur Wright as president and Orville 
Wright as vice president. They ceased to take part in 
public flights and were eagerly looking forward to the 
time which money and leisure now afforded to develop 
some of their ideas on flight. But in May, after returning 
from a trip to Boston, Wilbur became ill with typhoid 


26 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


fever. Early on Thursday morning, May 30, 1912, the 
great partnership of Orville and Wilbur Wright, founded 
upon a common interest which had taken them through 
trials, poverty, and finally to success and fame, was ended, 
for Wilbur passed away, leaving his brother with a heavy 
heart to carry on alone the great work which both had 
undertaken. 

Orville Wright still lives in Dayton, Ohio. His interest 
in aeronautics has never waned, and whenever he accepts 
one of his numerous invitations to attend any meeting in 
the interests of aviation, his quiet, unassuming presence 
adds distinction and dignity to the occasion. 


CHAPTER II 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 

The offer of prizes always stimulates activity in any field 
of endeavor. Those offered in aviation have done much 
to speed the progress of flight. 

In 1910 the New York World offered a prize of $10,000 
to the person who would make the first flight either from 
New York to Albany or from Albany to New York. 


Glenn Curtiss 

Glenn Curtiss, one of the pioneers in aviation in this 
country, had won, by his flight in the June Bug on July 4, 
1908, a cup presented by the Scientific American, the first 
prize offered in America in connection with an airplane 
flight. He now took one of his flying machines to Albany 
and waited for suitable weather to begin his flight in 
an attempt to win the prize offered by the New York pub¬ 
lishers. 

His delay became so extended that people began to criti¬ 
cize him and to say that he must know that such a flight 
could never be made. But finally, early on Decoration 
Day, 1910, he left Albany, and the people along the Hudson 
27 


28 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Curtiss June Bug 


were startled by the sound of a noisy motor as he steered his 
plane over that river, following its course to New York. 
A stop was made at Poughkeepsie for oil and gas and an 
inspection of his engine. The flight was continued; he 
reached his objective and won the $10,000. 

His plane had a wing spread of only 30 feet, and his in¬ 
struments, he said, were his five senses. What a difference 
twenty years later, when, on the same day in 1930, the 
twentieth anniversary of that first flight, Mr. Curtiss as 
co-pilot in a giant 18-passenger twin-motored Curtiss- 
Condor biplane, with a wing spread of 92 feet, flew over 
the same route! His first flight took 2 hours’ and 51 
minutes, but this time he flew from Albany to Governors 
Island and circled the Statue of Liberty in only 80 minutes. 















SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


29 


A few weeks after this celebration, Mr. Curtiss died sud¬ 
denly on July 23, following an operation for appendicitis. 
A Congressional Medal of Honor was awarded him because 
of the following accomplishments, among others: 

1907. He built the first dirigible motor for the Army 
and with Capt. T. S. Baldwin constructed, flew, and de¬ 
livered to the Army its first airship. 

1909. He brought the first international air races to the 
United States by winning the famous Gordon Bennett 
Trophy race in France. 

1910. He made the first demonstration of bomb-drop- 
ping from an airplane. 

1911. His planes were first to land upon and to rise 
from the decks of battleships. 

1914. He designed and built the famous OX motor and 
the JN airplane, which became world-famous as the 
‘Jenny/ 

1918. In the World War the Navy adopted Curtiss de¬ 
signs for nearly all its flying equipment, and practically 
all Army and Navy flyers were trained in Curtiss planes. 


Flights across the English Channel 

A little less than a year before Glenn Curtiss made his 
first flight down the Hudson, the feat of flying over the 
English Channel was claiming the attention of two French¬ 
men, Lathan and Bleriot. In 1909 both were rivals for 
a $5,000 prize offered by an English newspaper for the 
first crossing of the English Channel by airplane. Lathan 
had made an unsuccessful attempt in July of that year. 


30 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Both he and Bleriot were on the coast of France only a 
few miles apart waiting for favorable weather. Fortune, 
it seemed, favored Bleriot, for having discovered at half¬ 
past two on the morning of July 25 that no wind was blow¬ 
ing, he prepared for his start, and an hour later he took 
off with his monoplane, crossed the Channel, and landed 
near Dover, flying the 21 miles in 37 minutes. His name 
appeared on the front pages of all the world’s newspapers, 
and he received cables and telegrams of congratulation 
from every country. 

Three years later, on April 16, 1912, a young American 
woman, Harriet Quimby, performed the same feat by fly¬ 
ing from Dover, England, to Hardelot, France, in a light, 
low-powered monoplane. Miss Quimby had obtained a 
pilot’s license in 1911, the first woman to receive one in 
America. She had given a number of exhibition flights 
in the United States and in Mexico, but her flight across 
the English Channel made her world-famous. 

The next year an Englishman, flying a Wright plane, 
crossed from Dover to Sangaette, near Calais, dropping 
greetings to the French Aero Club there, and returned to 
England, making the first non-stop flight over the Channel 
and back. 


Transcontinental Flights 

The first transcontinental flight across America was 
made in September, 1911, by Calbraith P. Rodgfers. He 
reached Los Angeles 49 days after he had left New York, 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


31 


though his actual flying time in covering his course of 
4,231 miles was 82 hours. Numerous forced landings had 
made necessary so many repairs to his plane that it was 
said that he used material enough in repairing his ma¬ 
chine to construct four new ones. 

The first non-stop flight across the continent was made 
in 1923 by Oakley G. Kelly and John A. Macready, of the 
American Army Air Service. They took off from Mitchell 
Field, Long Island, in a Fokker T-2 army transport plane 
with a 400-horsepower Liberty motor at half-past twelve, 
Eastern time, on May 2, and landed in San Diego, Cali¬ 
fornia, the next day a little after twelve, Pacific time. 
Their 2,500-mile flight was accomplished in 26 hours and 
50 minutes. 

This same distance was covered in August, 1930, in less 
than half that time, when, including three stops, a flight 
was made in 12 hours, 25 minutes, and 3 seconds (actual 
flying time 11 hours and 40 minutes) by Captain Frank M. 
Hawks. He flew his Whirlwind-powered Travel Air from 
the Glendale Airport, Los Angeles, to Curtiss Field, Long 
Island, lowering, by 2 hours and 20 minutes, the record 
made on the preceding Easter Sunday by Colonel and Mrs. 
Charles A. Lindbergh. No man had ever flown a like dis¬ 
tance in so short a time. Imagine eating breakfast in 
California, climbing into the cockpit of your plane, taking 
off as the hands of the clock point to sixteen minutes 
after six, speeding through the sky at a rate never below 
200 miles an hour (except in landing and taking off), 
whizzing across the continent, dropping down and land- 


32 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


ing for a 15-minute stop for fuel at airports at Albu¬ 
querque, New Mexico, at Wichita, Kansas, and at Indi¬ 
anapolis, Indiana, and then shooting over the Allegheny 
Mountains, reaching the Atlantic coast, and swooping 
down at the airport in Long Island in time to wash your 
face and hands, comb your hair, and sit down to a seven- 
o’clock dinner that evening. 

In December Miss Ruth Nichols of Rye, New York, 
made a transcontinental record for women. With a single 
stop at Wichita, Kansas, she arrived at Roosevelt Field, 
Long Island, in 13 hours, 21 minutes, and 43 seconds, flying 
time from Los Angeles. 


First Transatlantic Flights 

The year 1919 was a great year in the history of aero¬ 
nautics. Three types of aircraft crossed the Atlantic. 

Three large seaplanes of the United States Navy, the 
NC-1, with three motors, the NC-3, and the NC~4, each 
equipped with four motors, left Rockaway, Long Island, 
on May 8, 1919, planning to fly to Plymouth, England, by 
stages from Nova Scotia: to Newfoundland, to the Azores, 
to Portugal, and then to England. The longest flight 
would be over the ocean from Newfoundland to the Azores, 
and on the ocean along this route there were to be sta¬ 
tioned destroyers and other vessels to act as rescuers in 
case the planes were obliged to make a forced landing on 
the ocean. 

The NC-3, the flag ship of the expedition, was forced 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


33 


down in a heavy sea. For over 52 hours without food 
and with the only drinking water that which was drained 
from the radiators, the crew succeeded in remaining afloat 
and finally in reaching the Azores. The plane was too seri¬ 
ously damaged to continue the flight. 

The NC-1 was also forced down by bad weather, and its 
crew was picked up by a steamship. But the NC~4, under 
the command of Lieutenant Commander Albert C. Read, 
with a crew consisting of pilots, Walter Hinton and Elmer 
Stone; radio operator, Lieutenant H. C. Rodd; engineer 
officer, Lieutenant J. L. Breese; and mechanic, Eugene 
Rhoads, reached Plymouth fifteen days after it had left 
New York (actual flying time 24 hours and 42 minutes). 
The NC-4 was the first aircraft ever to cross the Atlantic. 

Two plucky Englishmen, Harry Hawker and Kenneth 
Mackenzie-Grieve, had hoped to bring this honor to Great 
Britain and also to win a prize of £10,000 (nearly $50,000) 
offered by the London Daily Mail for the first transatlantic 
flight. They had taken off from Newfoundland two days 
after the NC-4* Their plane was a land plane with a de¬ 
tachable undercarriage and was so constructed that it 
could land in water if necessary. When about half way 
across, their motor began to fail, and they were forced to 
alight on the water. Fortunately they had attracted the 
attention of the Danish steamer Mary and were taken 
on board. But the Mary had no radio, and it was six days 
before the world knew that they had been rescued. Reach¬ 
ing England, the fliers were much surprised to find them¬ 
selves world heroes. 


34 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


The second successful transatlantic crossing by air, and 
the first one by aircraft lighter than air, was made by the 
R-34, a British dirigible which left Dublin, Ireland, on 
July 2, 1919, and arrived at Mineola, Long Island, July 6, 
flying 3,200 miles in 108 hours and 12 minutes. Three and 
a half days later the return voyage was successfully made 
in 74 hours and 56 minutes. 

On June 14 to 15, the first non-stop transatlantic airplane 
flight was made by two English war pilots, Captain John 
Alcock and Lieutenant A. Whitten Brown. On June 14, 
they started from St. Johns, Newfoundland, in their heavy 
bombing plane with its two Rolls-Royce motors. Their 
flight proved their endurance and pluck. For hours they 
flew through fog and sleet, coming down in spins to the 
very ocean’s crest, barely leveling off in time to avoid a 
dive into the salty waters, then climbing upward thousands 
of feet in a vain effort to get above the cloud banks, and 
dropping back down again and flying dangerously low 
in order to get a little better visibility. All through the 
night they flew, with only an occasional opportunity to 
take observations; but Brown proved a good navigator, 
for in the morning they caught sight of islands off the Irish 
coast, and at 8:40 o’clock they made a landing, their plane 
turning over as the wheels sank into a miry bog at Clifden, 
Ireland. 

The world could hardly believe that these two men had 
safely crossed the great Atlantic. They were given a 
splendid reception in England. At a luncheon in their 
honor, Winston Churchill, an English statesman, said that 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


35 



United States Army Air Corps 

The Douglas World Cruisers 
The New Orleans is in the foreground. 


he did not know which to admire most, the audacity, the 
determination, the skill, the science, the Vickers-Vimy 
airplane, the Rolls-Royce engine, or the good fortune of 
these first non-stop Atlantic fliers. 

The First Round-the-World Flight 

To the United States Navy went the honor of the first 
flight across the Atlantic, and to the United States Army 
went the honor of the first round-the-world flight. 

It was on April 6, 1924, that four Douglas transport 
planes started from Seattle to fly around the globe by 
way of Alaska, Japan, China, India, Persia, Iraq, Turkey, 
Austria, England, Greenland, and Newfoundland, and then 
back to Seattle. Think what a test such a journey meant 




36 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


at that time to both man and machinery — flying over 
snows and icy seas, over oceans, over jungles and hot desert 
regions! 

Only two planes, the Chicago, piloted by Lieutenant 
Lowell W. Smith, with First Lieutenant Leslie P. Arnold 
as mechanic; and the New Orleans, piloted by Lieutenant 
Erick St. Nelson, with Second Lieutenant John Harding, 
Jr., as mechanic, completed the trip 175 days after starting. 
They had covered 27,553 miles in a total flying time of 371 
hours and 11 minutes. 


Charles A. Lindbergh and the Spirit of St. Louis 

It was half-past five o’clock by New York daylight saving 
time on May 12,1927, when there appeared on the western 
horizon of Curtiss Field, Mineola, Long Island, a single- 
motored monoplane. It glided down to the field and made 
a perfect landing. Across the fuselage was printed the 
name Spirit of St. Louis, and from the cockpit there 
climbed out a tall, slim, blue-eyed young pilot. Yes, he 
was Charles A. Lindbergh, who had come from the West 
to attempt the realization of a long-thought-of dream to 
fly across the great Atlantic ocean. Few Americans could 
have told you much about him; not many persons then 
knew that the father of this young man had been elected 
to Congress from Minnesota and before his death had 
served for ten years as a member of that body at Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. Not many knew that his mother was a 
teacher of science in a large technical high school in De- 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


37 



Underwood and Underwood 
The Spirit of St. Louis 

Colonel Lindbergh making a trial flight in the Ryan mono¬ 
plane before receiving news of favorable weather conditions over 
the Atlantic. 

troit, Michigan. His arrival at Curtiss Field, which then 
adjoined Roosevelt Field, seemed no occasion for great 
headlines in the daily papers. People were more con¬ 
cerned about the tragic fate of those two brave French 
fliers, Captain Charles Nungesser and Captain Francois 
Coli, who had attempted to cross the ocean from Paris to 
New York by way of the air and who, missing for the past 
four days, had been given up as lost. More interest was 
shown in the preparation being made by Commander 
Richard E. Byrd, and more confidence was felt that this 





38 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

A Few of Lindbergh’s Medals and Trophies 

These are on display at Jefferson Memorial, Forest Park, St. Louis, 
Missouri. 

experienced polar flyer would be the one to fly to France. 

But the Spirit of St. Louis was receiving complete and 
careful inspection while its pilot was eagerly studying the 
weather reports. 

Seven long days went by with reports from land sta¬ 
tions and ships still unfavorable. It was May 19, and a 
misty rain was falling from an overcast sky. It seemed 
that such days as these would lengthen into another week 
of waiting. But about six o’clock that night there came 
a special report from Washington, saying that the weather 
was clearing over the entire North Atlantic. With such 





SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


39 


welcome news, Lindbergh hastened to Curtiss Field and 
transferred his plane to Roosevelt Field, where he left it 
in the hands of mechanics until he should return at day¬ 
break. On the morning of May 20, not more than five 
hundred persons were about the field as this young mail 
pilot raised his plane from the muddy runway at 7:52 a.m. 
and waved his farewell to his friends below. 

In his book We he tells of his flight across the ocean, but 
he did not know as he was flying that he was arousing 
the admiration of all the world and that the hearts of all 
America were beating with ardent hope and pride as he 
was reported now to be making good progress along the 
New England coast, now to be flying over St. Johns, New¬ 
foundland, now to be heading over the Atlantic into the 
silent evening twilight to meet the unknown dawn of 
another day. Prayers for his safety were murmured from 
a million lips while he and his plane were speeding high 
above some great cloud bank at eleven thousand feet, or 
skimming through the cushion of air over the ocean white 
caps at barely ten feet. 

Then word came that he had reached the Irish coast, had 
passed over the English Channel, had circled over Paris, 
and had landed safely at Le Bourget Field. 

It then was 5:00 p.m. in New York, May 21. News¬ 
papers, radios, telephone and telegraph wires were an¬ 
nouncing the fact that this American pilot had been the 
first to fly alone the 3,620 miles across the Atlantic, from 
New York to Paris, in 33% hours. 

The result of this flight and the unassuming manner in 


40 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


which he has met world-wide acclaim have made Colonel 
Lindbergh the idol of his countrymen, and have inspired 
a new confidence everywhere in air travel. His silent part¬ 
ner, the Spirit of St. Louis, now hangs with outspread 
wings in the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, D. C., 
proudly proving to the admiring thousands who view it 
that a good airplane, with a good pilot, is the modern 
vehicle for safe and speedy travel. Lindbergh had shown 
the way, and others made successful crossings that same 
year. 

Other West-to-East Flights across the Atlantic 

Clarence D. Chamberlain and Charles A. Levine flew a 
single-motored Bellanca-Wright monoplane, the Colum¬ 
bia, from New York to Germany, making the flight of 
3,930 miles in 42 hours. 

In August, William Schlee and William Broch crossed 
the Atlantic from Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, to Croy¬ 
don, England, in a single-motored monoplane on their 
way to Japan. 

A few weeks after Lindbergh’s memorable flight, Byrd 
navigated a tri-motored Fokker, the America, from New 
York to France, June 29-July 1, 1927. With him were 
three others, Acosta, Noville, and Balchen. Owing to the 
dense fog, they were unable to land at Le Bourget Field, 
Paris, and were compelled to make a landing on the water 
near the coast. It was the clever handling of the controls 
by Bernt Balchen that prevented serious accident in their 
emergency landing. This exhibition of skill no doubt 



SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 41 


The Columbia 

Clarence Chamberlain leaving Roosevelt Field for his transat¬ 
lantic flight. 

influenced Byrd in selecting him as his chief pilot on the 
South Polar Expedition. 

The first woman to cross the ocean by air was Miss 
Amelia Earhart, who, with Wilmer Stultz as pilot and 
Louis Gordon as co-pilot, left Trepassey, Newfoundland, 
on June 17, 1928, in a tri-motored Fokker landplane, 
Friendship, fitted with pontoons, and landed in Burryport, 
South Wales, England, the next day, flying 2,140 miles in 
20 hours and 49 minutes. In her book 20 Hours, 1+0 Min¬ 
utes Miss Earhart tells the interesting story of her previous 
flying experiences and of her trip over the waters of the 
Atlantic. 



42 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 


The Friendship 

Amelia Earhart’s plane landing off the coast of England after its 
flight across the Atlantic. 

First East-to-West Flight 

The first east-to-west non-stop flight in a land plane was 
made in April, 1928, by Baron G. von Huenefeld, Captain 
Hermann Koehl, and Major James Fitzmaurice. They 
left Baldonnel, Ireland, on April 12 in a Junker-Junkers 
310-horsepower metal monoplane, named the Bremen, 
with the hope of landing in New York. They met un¬ 
usually strong head winds, their fuel supply became ex¬ 
hausted, and they were forced to land on the lonely 
Greenely Island off the coast of Newfoundland, after being 
in the air 37 hours. 

In attempting their rescue, the brave pilot, Floyd Ben- 



SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


43 


nett, sacrificed his life. Leaving a sick bed to pilot a plane, 
he was stricken with pneumonia and was taken to a hos¬ 
pital in Quebec, where he died just after his great friend 
Richard E. Byrd had reached his bedside. 

One of Colonel Lindbergh’s most spectacular overland 
flights was made when, laying aside his usual precaution, 
he left New York in unfavorable flying weather conditions 
and flew to Quebec with the serum which was used in a 
vain effort to save Floyd Bennett’s life. 

Bennett’s successor in the attempt to rescue the Bremen 
pilots, as well as his successor as chief pilot on Byrd’s 
Antarctic Expedition, was that stalwart Norwegian pilot, 
Bernt Balchen. The Bremen was brought to New York 
City, where it hung suspended from the dome of the Grand 
Central Station until it was taken to the Smithsonian Insti¬ 
tution. 


The Flight of Coste and Bellonte 

On September 1 and 2,1930, the first non-stop flight from 
Paris to New York was completed by Captain Dieudonne 
Coste and Maurice Bellonte. It had been the dream of 
French airmen, before and after Lindbergh landed in Paris, 
to fly the Atlantic from east to west. Through three years 
of hard effort and heart-breaking disappointment, Captain 
Coste had waited for the time to come when he could 
realize his great desire to reach the New World by flying 
over the Atlantic. 

His plane, the Question Mark, now equipped with a new 


44 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


650-horsepower Hispano-Suiza motor, was the same one 
in which the year before he and Bellonte had broken a 
world’s cross-country distance record by flying 4,877 miles 
from Paris to Tsitsihar, Manchuria. 

These airmen left Le Bourget Field, Paris, at 5:54 a.m. 
on September 1 and landed at Curtiss Field, Long Island, 
at 7:12% p.m. on September 2, covering 4,030 miles in 
37 hours, 18% minutes. This was one of the best-prepared 
flights ever made. And what need there was for prepara¬ 
tion when great cloud banks blocked the way by day and 
the sullen darkness became the barrier at night! Can you 
imagine two lone men flying on and on in that complete 
darkness, with the only sound the song of the motor, as a 
steady watch was kept on the numerous instruments on 
whose accuracy rested the fulfillment of the dreams of a 
lifetime ? How welcome was the first faint gleam of morn¬ 
ing light, and what a relief it must have been when the 
friendly shore line of North America came in view! How 
the news flashed around the world telling of the scarlet 
plane’s successful crossing and keeping thousands posted 
on its speedy progress along the New England coast and 
its arrival at Curtiss Airport, 

About the airport had gathered thousands of spectators 
who soon picked up the French words of greeting and who 
shouted, “Vive la France!” “Vive Coste et Bellonte!” as 
the Question Mark glided down to a landing on Curtiss 
Field. A flying stork etched in white on the red back¬ 
ground of the fuselage attracted special attention. It was 
the war insignia of the flying squadron in which Coste had 
served during the World War. 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


45 



Associated Press 

COSTE AND BELLONTE LANDING AT CURTISS FlELD, LONG ISLAND 

An interesting piece of baggage was the altimeter which 
had been lost from Byrd’s plane, the America, when it had 
made the emergency landing at Ver-Sur-Mer, France, and 
which had been found by a fisherman and taken to Paris. 
It had been brought to America by Coste to be returned to 
its owner, Admiral Byrd. 

Coste and Bellonte were welcomed in New York with 
the wildest enthusiasm of its cheering millions. Mayor 
Walker, who had been a guest of Captain Coste in Paris, 
formally welcomed the fliers and complimented them upon 
their valor and the scientific accomplishment of the non¬ 
stop flight from Paris to New York. 

One notable gathering took place when the French 
fliers sat down to a dinner in New York with Captain 





46 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Gronau and his three companions, students from a Ger¬ 
man flying school of which he was chief. A few days be¬ 
fore, on August 26, they had landed their Dornier-Wal 
seaplane in the harbor of New York, after a successful 
flight from List, Germany, by way of Iceland, Greenland, 
Labrador, and Nova Scotia. On this occasion, in a room 
draped with American, French, and German flags, the 
German naval flier, Captain Wolfgang von Gronau, and 
the French ace, Captain Dieudonne Coste, combatants in 
the World War, clasped hands and congratulated each 
other upon the success of a common undertaking. What 
an instrument the airplane has become fp£ promoting 
good will and universal understanding! 

Coste and Bellonte did not remain long in New York. 
They left on Thursday morning, September 4, for Dallas, 
Texas, where a $25,000 prize awaited them for having 
flown from Paris to Dallas with the only stop at New 
York. 

After a good-will tour of the United States over the 
same route which Colonel Lindbergh had taken when he 
returned from his flight to Paris, the French flyers sailed 
for their homeland. They reached Paris on October 25, 
where great honors and affection were bestowed upon 
them by their countrymen. 

The Italian Flyers 

One of the most spectacular flights from the Old World 
to the New was made by a squadron of Italian seaplanes, 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


47 


with Italy’s air minister, General Italo Balbo, as leader. 
This experiment in group flying was begun December 17, 
1930, when fourteen Savoia-Marchetti flying boats, each 
with two 500-horsepower Fiat engines arranged in tandem 
above the wings, left Orbetello, near Rome, Italy, on a four- 
lap flight to Bolama, Africa, whence twelve of the seaplanes 
were to fly the South Atlantic to Brazil. Two of the twelve 
were crashed on the take-off at Bolama with the loss of 
five lives. Two other planes were substituted, so that the 
original number of twelve left Bolama, on Monday, Jan¬ 
uary 5, 1931. Two of these, however, were forced down at 
sea, without loss of life or injury to the crews, and were 
taken in tow by some of the Italian destroyers which were 
stationed along the route. After a long dark night with 
only their instruments to tell them of their location, the 
remaining ten planes reached the harbor of Natal and 
settled down on its waters at 2:15 Tuesday afternoon, 
January 6, 1931. 

What a sight it must have been for the crowd at Natal 
as these gaily decorated, black, green, red, and white giant 
flying boats, with their 79-foot wing spread, emerged from 
the dark rain clouds that January afternoon. What a pic¬ 
ture the forty members of the crews and their leader, 
dressed in the Fascist black shirt and white trousers, must 
have made as they climbed from their flying boats after 
being in the air for 17 hours and 15 minutes. From Natal 
the 'flying rainbow’ continued the flight for 1,440 miles to 
Rio de Janiero. Eleven of these swift Italian seaplanes 
completed the flight of more than 6,000 miles when they 


48 HISTORY AND ROMANCE 

arrived at the Brazilian capital on the afternoon of Jan¬ 
uary 5. 

In speaking over the radio from that city, General Balbo 
said in part, “Ours is an achievement of civil rather than 
military aviation because it will be possible in the future 
to fly commercial fleets between the two continents as we 
have done with the military planes.” In his speech he also 
thanked his friends and countrymen in North America for 
their keen interest in the flight. 

First Flights across the Pacific 

By this time you will be wondering about the first 
flights across the Pacific. 

Various prizes had been offered for a flight from Cali¬ 
fornia to Hawaii. James D. Dole, of Honolulu, had offered 
a first prize of $25,000 and a second prize of $10,000 for the 
first and second uninterrupted flights from the mainland 
of the United States to Hawaii. During the early summer 
of 1927 fourteen entrants in the race for the Dole prizes 
were preparing for the flight. 

Before any of the contestants got away, however, a flight 
was completed by two lieutenants of the Army Air Corps, 
Lester J. Maitland and Albert F. Hegenberger, who, after 
displaying splendid application of the knowledge of navi¬ 
gation, reached this small mid-Pacific group of Hawaiian 
Islands and landed their tri-motored Fokker on Wheeler 
Field near Honolulu on the morning of June 29, flying 
2,400 miles over open ocean in 25 hours and 50 minutes. 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


49 


This flight was one of the early demonstrations of the 
value of the radio-beacon beam as a check on a course for 
airplane flights. 

The next month Ernest S. Smith and Emory B. Bronte 
flew a Travel Air with a Wright Whirlwind motor for 2,340 
miles above a fog-covered ocean, reaching Molokai, an 
island of Hawaii, where in making a landing their plane 
was wrecked. They had been in the air 25 hours and 36 
minutes. 

In August only eight of the fourteen entrants in the 
Dole airplane race crossed the starting line, at the airport 
in Oakland, California. Four of these turned back; two 
were lost at sea; two reached Honolulu and landed at 
Wheeler Field within two hours of each other. Arthur 
Goebel, pilot, with Lieutenant William Davis, won the 
first prize, their flying time being 25 hours and 17 minutes; 
and Martin Jensen and Paul Schluter won the second 
prize, their flying time being 28 hours and 16 minutes. 
Each of the planes was powered with a single Wright 
Whirlwind engine. 

One of the most remarkable flights of 1928 was the 
flight from California over the Pacific Ocean to Brisbane, 
Australia, only two stops being made, one at Honolulu 
and one at Suva, Fiji Islands. 

It was on the morning of May 31 that the Southern 
Cross, a tri-motored Fokker monoplane, with its load of 
15,807 pounds, took off from the Oakland Airport. 

Charles E. Kingsford-Smith and Charles T. P. Ulm, 
the pilot commanders, were Australians; Harry W. Lyon, 


50 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



Clyde Sunderland Studios 

Commander Charles Kingsford-Smith Landing the Southern 
Cross at Oakland Municipal Airport 

navigator, and James W. Warner, radio operator, were 
Americans. They reached Honolulu after flying 27 hours 
and 25 minutes. Early the next morning, after getting a 
supply of fuel on Kauai Island (about one hundred miles 
from Wheeler Field), they started on the most perilous 
part of their trip. Black tropical storms forced them up¬ 
ward to an altitude of a mile and a half. Then, because in 
the high altitudes the hungry motors were eating away 
the fuel supply so fast, down they would come to a height 
of 400 feet, flying through rain which, seeping through 
the wind shield, made them soaking wet. You caL imagine 
how frightened they were at one time when along a fuel- 






SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


51 


supply pipe they saw drops of liquid falling and thought 
their precious fuel was leaking away. It proved to be the 
condensation of the water vapor in the warm air, as it 
came in contact with the colder gasoline pipes. Their 
supply of fuel proved more than sufficient, for they reached 
Suva, Fiji, at 3:50 p.m. on June 5, with a 4-hour gas supply 
left in the tanks. They had performed the remarkable 
feat of flying over water for 3,144 miles in 34% hours. 

On the morning of June 8 they left Suva, and the next 
forenoon they landed in Australia, having spanned the 
Pacific in 83 hours, 15 minutes, actual flying time. 

This was not the last journey for the Southern Cross. 
Two years later, in June, 1930, this plane, said to be the 
second oldest tri-motored plane in the world, with its same 
three motors brought Kingsford-Smith and his three com¬ 
panions across the Atlantic from Port Marnoch, Ireland, 
to Harbor Grace, Newfoundland, and then by way of Hali¬ 
fax to Roosevelt Field, Long Island. 

His genial personality and his exceptional ability as a 
pilot have given Charles Kingsford-Smith a place among 
the most popular and able flyers of the world. 

The first successful flight across the North Pacific from 
west to east was made in October, 1931, by Clyde Pangborn 
and Hugh Herndon, Jr., who had hopped off from New 
York, July 28. After a successful Atlantic crossing and 
a victorious battle with storms over Siberia the fliers found 
themselves in trouble as they landed in Tokio. They had 
innocently violated the Japanese espionage act by flying 
over fortified zones in half-a-dozen places and had taken 


52 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


about one hundred feet of photographic film. For this of¬ 
fense their plane and they themselves were held by the 
Japanese authorities. Upon payment of a fine, however, 
their plane was released and they were given permission by 
the Japanese Aviation Bureau to undertake their flight 
across the Pacific, provided a start could be made not later 
than October 15. Happy at last, they took their plane to 
Sabishiro Beach, where they awaited good weather. The 
morning of October 4 dawned clear and windless with 
favorable weather reports coming in from the east. They 
lifted their Bellanca monoplane with its load of 900 gallons 
of gas and 40 gallons of oil, sufficiently fueled to enable 
it to fly for 45 hours, and waved farewell to their Japanese 
spectators. 

Over the North Pacific they cut loose their 300-pound 
landing gear. Without it, landing would be a hazardous 
feat, but the load would be lightened and air resistance 
reduced by about 17 per cent. On they flew 4500 miles 
over the great Pacific Ocean. Then after 41 hours they 
reached America and made a landing with only a minor 
shake-up at Wenatchee, Washipgton, on October 5. 

Two representatives of a Japanese newspaper came for¬ 
ward and handed them $25,000, a prize offered for a non¬ 
stop flight from Japan to the United States. 

They ended their globe-circling flight when they set 
their red Bellanca plane down at Floyd Bennett Field on 
October 18. 

But the speediest round-the-world flight was made by 
Wiley Post and Harold Gatty on June 23 to July 1. 


SOME FIRST FLIGHTS 


53 


In their flight Pilot Post and Navigator Gatty had lifted 
their big White Lockheed monoplane, the Winnie Mae , 
from the runway at Roosevelt Field early on the morning 
of June 23. Leaving Harbor Grace that afternoon, they 
crossed the Atlantic Ocean, arrived safely in England, and, 
continuing across Germany and Russia, reached Siberia. 
Then they dashed through the sky across the Bering Sea 
for 2,100 miles and landed without mishap in Nome, 
Alaska. A flight over the Canadian Rockies and across the 
Eastern United States brought them back again in 8 days, 
15 hours, 51 minutes to Roosevelt Field. 

Some of these aircraft may be seen in the Smithsonian 
Institution in Washington, D. C., which contains the 
largest collection of famous aircraft in the world. Of par¬ 
ticular interest are: 


Models 


Da Vinci’s machine 
Henson’s projected airliner 
Chanute’s biplane glider 


1490 

1840 

1896 


Originals 


Stringfellow’s triplane 


1868 


(Reconstructed, with some of the original 


parts) 

Lilienthal’s glider 
Langley’s aerodrome (restored) 
Wright’s airplane 


1896 

1903 (1914) 
1908 


War Planes 

First American training plane, JN-4 type 
French Caudron 
French Voison 


54 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Spad-13 

German Fokker D-7 


Post-War Planes 

Berliner helicopter 1924 

Pulitzer Trophy and Schneider Race winner. 

Hull of the NC-4 1925 

T-2 (plane of Macready and Kelly) 1919 

Chicago (round-the-world flight) 1924 

Spirit of St. Louis 1927 


Here there are also many other models and originals of 
craft heavier than air and of craft lighter than air, besides 
exhibits of flying equipment, propellers, airplane engines, 
and other accessories. 


CHAPTER III 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 

What a challenge to the physical fitness, the courage, 
and the daring of man does exploration in the polar regions 
offer! What a thrill one feels as he reads of the hardships 
overcome, and the obstacles surmounted, by these intrepid 
men who have brought back knowledge of those vast, 
far-away, icebound spaces! Or what a feeling of awe and 
reverence one has for those who, unable to contend with 
polar blizzards and with starvation, have been forced to 
take their last sleep amid the storms and snow and ice in 
those frigid lands! 

You may ask, “But why do men risk and sacrifice their 
lives on such perilous journeys?” And these are some of 
the answers: to seek adventure, to gain fame for one’s 
self or for one’s country, to gain knowledge and promote 
science, or to seek wealth. Are not these the very reasons 
for which the knights of old set out, for which the earliest 
explorers sailed away in frail boats on unknown waters? 

Before the birth of Christ, Greek sailors had brought 
back from their voyages strange tales of far-away, ice- 
strewn seas. You may read the legends of adventure and 
bloodshed of those giant Vikings of Norway who sailed 
55 


56 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


the raging northern waters and who in the year 1000 
probably reached the shores of America. Then came the 
humble Genoan who proved the earth was round, and his¬ 
tory tells us how the countries of Europe tried to find a 
northwest route to India around the continents that barred 
their passage westward. 


Attempts of Various Countries to Reach the North Pole 

The nineteenth century ushered in the attempts of Eng¬ 
land, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Russia, France, Ger¬ 
many, Japan, Holland, Portugal, and Austria to reach the 
North Pole or to hold the record of ‘farthest north.’ 

The disappearance of Sir John Franklin and his com¬ 
pany of 138 men in 1814 into the Arctic snows, which re¬ 
mained a mystery for over a dozen years, furnished the 
impetus for exploration for many years, and resulted in 
the establishment of over seven thousand miles of coast 
line. The English government offered rewards for news 
of the Franklin party. Men everywhere became inter¬ 
ested. American sympathy was awakened, and rescue 
parties were organized which aroused American interest 
in Arctic exploration. 

You may read of the tragic suffering of the men of these 
expeditions who fought such desperate battles with snow, 
ice, and frigid temperatures — some to return, many to die 
— but whose courage took them farther and farther north. 

You should read the story of the young Lieutenant, 
Adolphus Greely, whose unconquerable spirit took him in 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


57 


1892 farther north than any human being had ever been 
before, where he unfurled an American flag made of silk 
by his devoted wife. Then, too, you will want to read 
about the adventures of that world-famous Viking, Dr. F. 
Nansen, whose Arctic explorations covered nearly half 
a century, and of how, among other exploits, in 1888 he 
crossed Greenland from east to west on skis. 

Today over this same territory explorers are studying 
conditions to see whether a suitable landing place for air¬ 
ships sailing between Britain and Canada or the United 
States can be established, and meteorologists are acquiring 
data in regard to wind conditions, for scientists are led to 
believe that cold winds of the Northern Hemisphere origi¬ 
nate in the interior of Greenland. 

It was Dr. Nansen who wrested the world’s record of 
‘farthest north’ from America and who planted the Nor¬ 
wegian flag within two hundred miles of the North Pole. 
In April, 1900, the record passed to Italy, when a member 
of an expedition led by the Duke of Abrussi reached a 
point about thirty miles beyond that reached by Nansen. 

But now another American, Robert E. Peary, whose 
Arctic experiences covered a period of almost twenty-five 
years and for whom the Esquimos had great reverence, 
sailed from New York in July, 1908, for a third attempt 
at the Pole. A year later, with a Negro companion, 
Matthew Hensen, and four Esquimos, Peary reached the 
coveted ‘90° north’ and the world acclaimed him as the 
discoverer of the North Pole. 

Explorations in the polar regions continued. Then 


58 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


came the development of aircraft as a successful method 
of transportation over long distances. 

Andree’s Attempted Flight over the Pole 

Before the first flight of an airplane, however, there was 
a man whose knowledge of air currents in the northern 
latitudes led him to believe that a successful flight could 
be made over the North Pole in a balloon. He was the 
expert Swedish aeronaut, Solomon Auguste Andree. He 
was a graduate of the Royal Institute of Technology in 
Stockholm and had studied weather conditions and wind 
directions. He had learned that about midsummer there 
is always a strong current of air blowing northward. He 
believed that a balloon once caught in this air current 
could be carried over the North Pole in a few days. 

A proposed flight in 1896 was given up on account of the 
lateness of the season and unfavorable weather conditions. 
Albert Nobel, whose will provided funds for the Nobel 
prizes given each year to men or women contributors in the 
field of science and in other fields, must have been con¬ 
vinced of the merit of Andree’s undertaking, for he gave a 
large amount of money toward it. But Andree as the 
leader of such an expedition was subject to considerable 
ridicule. One European newspaper called him “simply a 
fool or a swindler.” 

However, in 1897 a large balloon named the Or men, the 
Swedish name for ‘eagle/ was fitted out for the- journey, 
the equipment including specially arranged sails. In the 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


59 



Andree’s Balloon 

This drawing shows the care with which Andree’s expedition was 
planned. Note the extent to which emergencies were provided for, 
and the completeness with which the balloon was fitted out. 




















































60 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


big basket were charts, books, guns and ammunition, a 
sledge, a boat, a pigeon cote, and food sufficient for four 
months. Everything was in readiness for the start, which 
was to be made whenever the direction and strength of the 
wind were favorable. At this time Andree seemed rather 
sad and quiet. He questioned Knut Frankel and Nils 
Strindberg, his companions, about the start and received 
the answer, “We ought to try it.” So on July 11 they 
climbed into the basket and gave the command, “One, 
two, cut.” The balloon whizzed upward, became a mere 
gray speck in the sky, and finally disappeared from view, 
never to be seen again, for their flight and its tragic end¬ 
ing remained an unsolved mystery for thirty-three years. 

Then one day in August, 1930, some members of Dr. 
Gunnar Horn’s exploring expedition came unexpectedly 
upon the remains of the Andree party, on White Island, 
a spot of land northeast of Iceland and only ten degrees 
from the North Pole. 

A diary and other notes have been deciphered, and 
camera films taken then have been carefully and success¬ 
fully developed which tell of their three days’ flight, of 
their landing within 475 miles of the Pole, and of their 
slow laborious trek across the snow and ice in an attempt 
to reach Spitzbergen. They reached White Island, but the 
increasing cold caused them to make preparations for 
spending the winter there. 

They laid in a stock of polar-bear and seal meat and 
enough game to last them until the following spring. But 
a few days later a severe storm struck their camp and swept 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


61 


away a part of their supplies, leaving them huddled to¬ 
gether in their little shelter where they may have been 
overcome by monoxide poisoning or may have died from 
sheer exhaustion. However it was, the great Ice King 
claimed them for his own three months after their depar¬ 
ture from Spitzbergen. 

On September 2, 1930, the remains of Andree and Nils 
Strindberg were brought to Tromso, where each was laid 
in a coffin and placed in the little cathedral to await their 
comrade, Knut Frankel, whose remains reached Tromso 
two weeks later. Then with impressive services the three 
coffins were escorted to the quay and taken aboard the 
ship Swensksund en route to Sweden. In the early Sun¬ 
day afternoon of October 5, this ship, escorted by several 
Swedish destroyers, was moored at the harbor of Stock¬ 
holm. Five airplanes circled overhead and church bells 
rang out as the funeral procession took its way from the 
quay to St. Nicholas’ Church in that city, where the coffins, 
draped in the nation’s flags, lay in state for four days. 

Byrd’s Successful Flight over the Pole 

The successful air flight over the North Pole was ac¬ 
complished nearly twenty-nine years after Andree’s at¬ 
tempt, when, on May 9, 1926, Richard E. Byrd and Floyd 
Bennett flew their Fokker airplane, the Josephine Ford, 
from Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, to the Pole and back. 

The life of Richard Evelyn Byrd is an inspiration to the 
youth of any country, but especially so to the young 


62 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


people of America. His ancestors were among the early 
settlers of Virginia, and their pluck and gallantry may be 
traced down through the generations to the three brothers 
who today bear the names of Tom and Dick and Harry 
Byrd, of old Virginia. Dick’s first adventure came at the 
age of twelve when he crossed the continent all alone and 
boarded a ship for the Philippines to visit a friend of the 
family. 

He returned by way of the Indian Ocean, the Suez Canal, 
and the Mediterranean Sea, and then across the Atlantic 
to New York. You may be sure that this boy of twelve 
who had circumnavigated the globe alone was considered 
most unusual. But his love of adventure did not gain 
supremacy in his early years, for he entered school and 
became a keen student of mathematics. 

It is said that his father wished him to take up law, 
but realizing that Richard’s interest lay in the engineering 
field, he secured an appointment for his son at the National 
Naval Academy at Annapolis. Here the science of navi¬ 
gation attracted him, and he became one of the honor 
students in his class. Athletics appealed to his fearless 
nature, and he became a star on the football field. 

It was during the World War that he learned to fly. It 
was after only seven hours’ dual instruction that he took 
his first solo flight, which he still maintains gave him one 
of his greatest thrills. The Armistice brought an end to 
his plans for flying navy planes across the Atlantic. 

His determination to fly over the North Pole came in 
1925, when, in company with Donald B. MacMillan and 
the young navy flier, Floyd Bennett, he flew over 2,500 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


63 



Byrd’s Monoplane, the Josephine Ford 

miles in the region of Greenland. When Byrd and his 
friend Bennett returned to the United States, they asked 
for a leave of absence from the Navy Department. This 
being granted, they began to make preparations for their 
polar flight. 

It takes a surprising amount of money to finance such 
an expedition. But the character and experience of these 
men inspired confidence, and over $100,000 was raised. 
Among the contributors and supporters of the expedition 
was Edsel Ford. In appreciation of his support, his little 
daughter’s name, Josephine Ford , was placed in large 
letters on the side of the tri-motored Fokker airplane. 

The party sailed by boat from New York and anchored 
in Kings Bay, Spitzbergen, on April 29, 1926. The Jos¬ 
ephine Ford was taken ashore, and on May 8, Commander 



64 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Byrd and his pilot, Floyd Bennett, climbed into the cabin. 
It was an anxious moment. Would the plane, with its 
load of five tons, be able to take off? With the throttle 
opened for full speed the plane raced down the runway 
and rose like a great gull, eager to see what fate had in 
store for it as it winged its speedy flight northward. 

But airplanes, unlike birds, have no instinct to direct 
them. The accuracy of their flight depends upon the navi¬ 
gator who sits in the cabin. It is he who interprets the 
readings of the many instruments and who signals to the 
pilot the correct course to pursue. This came easy to 
Commander Byrd — he was only putting into practice the 
knowledge of mathematics and navigation which he had 
so thoroughly mastered during his school and college days. 

In fifteen and one-half hours the great plane had flown 
as straight as an arrow to the top of the world and back 
again, a distance of over sixteen hundred miles. 

Byrd returned to New York, June 22, 1926, amid a storm 
of applause such as few Americans had been accorded. 

He had now flown over the North Pole and had crossed 
the Atlantic. The next great adventure would be the 
attempt to carry the American flag to the South Pole. 
How that was done we shall soon see. 

Roald Amundsen 

When Byrd returned to Kings Bay from his North Pole 
flight, one of the first men to greet and congratulate him 
was Roald Amundsen, the ‘Splendid Norseman.’ 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


65 


During the long snowy winters of Norway, Amundsen 
at an early age became an expert in skimming over the 
snow and coasting down the hills on his skis and sleds. 
The howling north winds seemed to him the voices of his 
Viking ancestors calling him to the adventurous life of an 
explorer, and the lives of the great English explorers, espe¬ 
cially the life of Sir John Franklin, aroused in him the 
desire to do some discovering for himself. 

After a two years’ voyage as member of an expedition 
to find the South Magnetic Pole, Amundsen decided to try 
to sail through the Northwest Passage and locate the North 
Magnetic Pole, the exact position of which had never been 
established. The success of these attempts brought him 
into public notice. 

His experiences in the Arctic prompted him to look for¬ 
ward to the discovery of the North Pole, but when Robert 
Peary had won this honor, Amundsen made up his mind 
that the Norwegian flag should be the first to fly over 
the South Pole. Before the world became aware of his 
intention, he had landed at the Bay of Whales and was 
making necessary preparations for the trip southward. On 
this expedition Amundsen used Esquimo dogs which he 
had brought with him from Greenland and upon which 
he relied so much for Arctic travel. It was on December 
14, 1911, that he and his four companions raised the flag 
of Norway from the top of a little tent over the spot which 
he had found to be the South Pole. The weather was in 
their favor on the return trip, so that, after making over 
nine hundred miles in forty-two days, they stalked into 


66 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


the camp at the Bay of Whales on January 25, 1912, as the 
discoverers of the South Pole. 

Now, before the World War, Amundsen had thought 
of using an airplane for a polar flight, and in 1914 had 
purchased a machine mounted on skis. Then the war 
broke out, and he presented this plane to his government. 
After the war, in an attempt to secure a flying boat for 
an Arctic flight, Amundsen found himself deeply in debt 
and unpopular both with his own countrymen and with 
his family. A lecture tour in the United States unfor¬ 
tunately proved a failure. Here was the greatest living 
explorer of the day seemingly without money, friends, or 
an opportunity for carrying on his marvelous work. But 
at this stage of affairs, an American, Lincoln Ellsworth, 
offered his financial support to Amundsen’s scheme of 
reaching the Pole by way of the air. 

Two flying boats were purchased and sent to Kings Bay, 
Spitzbergen, in 1925. In these two planes, the N-24 and 
N-25, the Amundsen-Ellsworth party started off. Within 
one hundred thirty-six miles of the Pole both planes were 
forced to make emergency landings. One was wrecked. 
After days had lengthened into weeks, by united and heroic 
efforts the men from both planes finally succeeded in pack¬ 
ing the snow into an icy runway some five hundred yards 
long, from which the capable pilot, Riiser-Larsen, got the 
plane into the air and, after one more landing, reached 
Spitzbergen. 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


67 


The Norge 

Amundsen and Ellsworth now began to bargain with 
the Italians through Colonel Nobile for the purchase of 
the N-l, a semi-dirigible airship. This bargaining re¬ 
sulted in the combined Amundsen-Ellsworth-Nobile flight. 

The N-l was a semi-rigid dirigible; that is, it was stif¬ 
fened by a framework of steel tubing. Its length was 348 
feet, or less than half that of the Graf Zeppelin, and its gas 
capacity was 650,000 cubic feet, or only one-tenth that of 
the new American airships built at Akron, Ohio. There 
were three engines of 250 horsepower each, two on each 
side just back of the cabin and one in the rear near the 
tail. These engines gave the ship a cruising speed of 
fifty miles per hour and a maximum speed of a little over 
seventy miles per hour. To fit this airship for its polar 
trip a good many changes were made. First its name was 
changed to the Norge, meaning ‘Norway.’ The luxurious 
cabin was made over, and the necessary equipment for the 
trip was installed. Sufficient gas tanks were provided for 
a flight of 4,350 miles without refueling. 

On April 10, 1926, under the command of Colonel Um¬ 
berto Nobile, the dirigible left Rome, Italy, for Kings 
Bay, Spitzbergen, where it arrived safely on May 7. 

It was at this very time that Commander Byrd was also 
preparing for his flight to the Pole. The happiest rela¬ 
tions existed between the leaders of the competing expe¬ 
ditions. Byrd won the race on May 9, in his airplane, the 
Josephine Ford. As for Nobile, it was 9:55 a.m., on May 


68 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



The Norge at Spitzbergen 

11, when the Norge lifted itself into the air with its com¬ 
pany of sixteen men and the motors began their steady 
hum. At midnight, Ellsworth, the American, became a 
year older, and all on board were wishing him a happy birth¬ 
day when Riiser-Larsen, the second in command, an¬ 
nounced, “Now we are there.” At 1:25, Greenwich time, 
the radio flashed the news that the Norwegian, the Ameri¬ 
can, and the Italian, each had dropped his country’s flag 
over the spot on the earth’s surface known as the North 
Pole. As the Norwegian flag floated downward, two 
staunch friends grasped each other by the hand. They 
were Roald Amundsen and Oscar Wisting, for had not 
these same two, fifteen years before, planted their coun¬ 
try’s flag far away at the South Pole on the other side of 
the globe? 






ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


69 


But the Norge did not return to Kings Bay as the 
Josephine Ford had done. Its objective was Alaska. On 
it sailed through dangerous fogs and over perilous Arctic 
seas. The ship had been seventy hours in the air carrying 
its human cargo 2,700 miles from Spitzbergen, Europe, to 
Teller, North America. Teller, however, was ninety miles 
northwest of Nome, which was the original point of desti¬ 
nation. The dangerous ice and fog had made it seem best 
to land at Teller. Here the ship was deflated and taken 
to pieces for shipment to Europe while the explorers went 
to Seattle by boat. As the train carrying the explorers 
crossed the United States, it was met with cheers and pub¬ 
lic demonstrations at all the stations. Then on July 3, 
the Norwegians sailed from New York for their native 
land, where a great welcome awaited them. 


General Nobile and the Italia 

Two years later Nobile, who in the meantime had been 
made a general, planned another Arctic flight in the Italia, 
a semi-rigid dirigible similar to the Norge. On May 24, 
1928, another Italian flag floated downward from the air 
as the Italia passed over the North Pole. But ill fortune 
overtook the ship on its return. It was forced down during 
a dense fog, and in an attempt to land, the cabin gondola 
was wrecked. Ten of the company were thrown out. One 
man was killed; Nobile and another were badly injured. 
The seven who were in the main part of the ship were car¬ 
ried away, their fate one of the unsolved mysteries of the 


70 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 



Pacific and Atlantic 

Survivors of the Nobile Disaster before Their Rescue, Living 
in the ‘Little Red Tent’ 


Arctic. Fortunately some food supplies and the radio 
had been thrown out also. The radio was set up, and mes¬ 
sages for help were sent out. However, before these 
messages were picked up, three of the party, Dr. Malm- 
gren, the Swedish scientist, and two Italians, set out on 
foot for North Cape to bring assistance. 

Finally the radio messages were picked up, and com¬ 
munication was established with Kings Bay. Rescue 
parties were formed. It was not until June 20 that the 
‘Little Red Tent’ was discovered by an Italian plane and 
supplies were dropped to the little group. A few days 
later a Fokker plane piloted by two Swedish pilots made 



ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


71 


a successful landing near the wreck. It was decided that 
General Nobile should be the one to return and with his 
comrades’ help he took his place in the rear compartment 
of the plane with his little dog, Titina, at his feet. The 
Fokker rose in the air and reached Russian Island, off the 
coast of Norway, safely. 

Then Captain Lundberg returned alone to rescue the 
other members of the party, but in landing, his plane was 
wrecked and he became a member of the stranded party 
for two weeks before he was rescued by a plane flown by a 
brother officer of the Swedish air corps. (Captain Lund¬ 
berg was killed on January 27, 1931, when a new plane, 
which he was testing for the Swedish army, crashed to 
the ground.) 

During this time a Russian steamer, the ice-breaker 
Krassin, was forcing its way northward. Two planes sent 
out from her were forced down in an attempt to reach the 
Nobile camp. However, planes were successful in drop¬ 
ping food and supplies to the men marooned on the ice 
until the Krassin finally reached them all, picking up those 
from the Italia on July 12 after their forty-nine days’ im¬ 
prisonment on the ice. One of the most unfortunate cir¬ 
cumstances attending the whole rescue was the loss of 
Malmgren, who perished on the ice, although his two 
Italian companions were afterwards rescued by the 
Krassin. 

When the fate of the Italia became known, one of the 
first to give his services in organizing a rescue party was 
Roald Amundsen, who headed a Norwegian flying expedi- 


72 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


tion, using a French seaplane. When three days passed 
with no word from Amundsen, anxiety was felt, but it was 
not until after a month had gone by that Russia, France, 
and Norway sent fliers out in an organized effort to locate 
the French plane. But to no avail. The only moving 
objects were the shadows of the planes; the only sound, 
their drumming motors as the searchers scanned the Arctic 
wastes. Amundsen, like the Vikings of old, had reached 
Valhalla in “the fulfillment of a high mission.” 

Sir Hubert Wilkins in the Arctic 

There is another man who has flown many miles over 
the regions near the poles and whose past experiences and 
whose expectancy to reach the North Pole by submarine 
will interest every boy or girl. He is Sir Hubert Wilkins, 
an Englishman, whose friends in America have made pos¬ 
sible his many flights over the Arctic and Antarctic regions. 

With Carl Ben Eielson as his pilot he took off from 
Fairbanks, Alaska, one March day to fly across the country 
to Point Barrow. From that point he was to attempt a 
trans-Arctic-Ocean flight to investigate the possibility that 
there existed an area somewhere in the Northland devoid 
of snow and ice. The big Lockheed plane, built espe¬ 
cially for him for such flights, was loaded to capacity with 
gas and oil and, he tells us, “with food and equipment to 
last for thirty days’ travel over mountains or tundra in 
case we should be forced down on the way to Barrow.” 

Eielson was a competent pilot. The plane successfully 
climbed the eleven thousand feet needed to fly over the 


ARCTIC EXPLORATION 


73 


Endicott Mountain Range. Then keeping a steady course 
for two hundred miles over the flat land to Point Barrow, 
the plane was brought in for a landing. 

It is interesting to read of the curiosity with which the 
Esquimos, a simple, friendly people, viewed such scenes 
and of their eagerness to be of some assistance. Sir Hu¬ 
bert was on friendly terms with the Esquimos of Alaska, 
and they were employed by him at Barrow to prepare 
the runway necessary for his take-off on his non-stop 
flight across the Arctic. He says, “They worked with a 
will as I was able to pay them six dollars a day and an 
occasional meal.” 

Then one morning in April Sir Hubert decided that the 
weather was suitable, and, climbing into the navigator’s 
cabin, he gave Eielson the signal “Let go.” They were 
in the air on their non-stop flight across the Arctic seas. 
Twenty and one-half hours later they landed in Spitz- 
bergen, having flown 2,200 miles, 1,300 of which were over 
areas which had never before been seen by man. The fol¬ 
lowing November, Pilot Eielson responded to a call for 
help from a fur-trading ship frozen in the far Arctic, and 
set out in his own plane. He never returned alive. Three 
months later a rescue party found his broken plane and 
brought back his remains to Alaska. 

Sir Hubert Wilkins later transported his airworthy plane 
to the Antarctic. Here in December, 1928, and January, 
1929, he flew over 600 miles, locating 300 miles of coastline 
and gaining the distinction of being the first man to fly over 
this region in an airplane. 


CHAPTER IV 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 

Exploration is a more difficult undertaking in the Ant¬ 
arctic than in the Arctic regions. Suppose you think of 
the Arctic as the area covered by the 60° circle drawn about 
the North Pole and the Antarctic as an area of the same 
size around the South Pole. Within this area about the 
North Pole there live over one million human inhabitants. 
There are countless land animals. Lumbering, mining, 
and fishing are carried on. But in the same-sized area 
about the South Pole there is not a single permanent 
human inhabitant. Neither is there a single land ani¬ 
mal except that peculiar bird creature, the penguin. There 
are no trees and very few plants. The only industry is 
whaling, and that is carried on along the coast. Within 
this area, however, lies a large body of land known as Ant¬ 
arctica, equal to the United States and Mexico combined, 
over which spreads a vast sheet of snow and ice. This 
territory exceeds in land area and in altitude the region 
about the North Pole; thus it is colder and the polar bliz¬ 
zards rage with more terrific fury and disastrous results. 
On the Pacific side, indenting the coast of Antarctica, is the 
Ross Sea with its great ice barrier, a sheet of floating ice 
74 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 


75 


from 300 to 1,500 feet thick, extending above the water 
from a few feet to 200 feet. Because this part of Ant¬ 
arctica is nearest the South Pole, it has been from it that 
the polar expeditions have started. 

Men have sailed from the ports of many different coun¬ 
tries to venture forth into the perilous Antarctic seas. It 
has been through the knowledge that they have gained that 
each subsequent voyager has got nearer his goal. 


Early Attempts to Reach the South Pole 

As early as 1838 America sent a sea captain, Charles 
Wilkes, with a corps of scientists on an organized expe¬ 
dition into the far southern waters. One of the ships was 
called the Flying Fish, a name suggestive of the mode of 
travel one hundred years later. Captain Wilkes was the 
' first man to sight Antarctica. You will find the coast line 
on the Australian side of this continent now bears the 
name of Wilkes Land in his honor. 

Sir Ernest Shackleton was a brave Englishman whose 
superb courage and endurance had taken him in 1909 to 
a point less than two hundred miles from the South Pole. 
He made many voyages into Antarctica. While on his last, 
in 1922, he suddenly died. He was buried under a cairn 
of stones on South Georgia, a desolate island about 35° 
from the Pole which he had made such a desperate attempt 
to reach thirteen years before. 

Roald Amundsen was the first man, as you know, to 
reach the South Pole. He started from the Bay of Whales, 


76 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


which was the site of ‘Little America/ the base from which 
Admiral Byrd made his flight. 

While Amundsen, with his Eskimo dogs that he knew so 
well how to use, was traveling toward the Pole from the 
Bay of Whales on the east side of the Ross Ice Barrier, Cap¬ 
tain Robert F. Scott was braving the elements and urging 
his Manchurian ponies onward from his base on the west 
side in the hope that the English flag would be the first 
to fly over the South Pole. But his ponies did not prove 
so successful as he had anticipated. They all died on the 
trip, and it was not until thirty-five days after Amundsen 
had reached the goal that Scott discovered the heart¬ 
breaking fact that others had preceded him. He and his 
four companions began their homeward trip, weary and 
disappointed. With unfavorable weather conditions they 
made slow progress. Within only eleven miles of a base 
of supplies a terrible blizzard came upon them, leaving 
death behind. Their tragic end, their loyalty to each 
other, their last hours are told in Captain Scott’s notes 
and diary, which were found with their remains in No¬ 
vember, ten months later. 


The Byrd Antarctic Expedition 

The success which accompanies great adventurers does 
not just happen, is not just a lucky ending. Days, months, 
and years lie behind the successful attainment of a goal. 
The great Byrd Antarctic Expedition was led by a man 
who said, “For years I had read every record of Antarctic 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 


77 


exploration and every scientific discussion of Antarctic 
problems.” The time came when this man was ready to 
attempt his flight to the South Pole, not planned, how¬ 
ever, just for the great honor such a flight would give to 
himself and his country, but as a great scientific under¬ 
taking: to learn about weather conditions, air currents, 
wind velocities at different altitudes; to determine ocean 
currents; to study the composition of the mountain rocks; 
to see whether these ranges were the continuation of the 
great Andes range of South America; to observe the habits 
of animal life; to bring back for future study records made 
by weather instruments; and to take moving pictures of 
those desolate ice-covered regions to be shown for the 
instruction and entertainment of the millions who would 
never be able to visit that part of the globe. 

Think of the responsibility which rested upon the leader 
of such a great endeavor. Richard Evelyn Byrd had the 
happy faculty of choosing wisely those companions upon 
whom he relied so much to carry out his plans. There were 
engineers; geologists, men whose business it was to study 
rock formations; surveyors; meteorologists, who studied 
and recorded weather conditions; physicians; radio oper¬ 
ators; photographers; newspaper men; mechanics; ski 
experts; dog trainers and dog drivers; carpenters; airplane 
pilots; seamen, sailors, and cooks; and the Boy Scout who 
was privileged to be one of the party. Enough food of the 
right fuel and vitamin value was to be taken to last the 
company three years. The proper kind and quantity of 
clothing had to be selected. Instruments which were to 


78 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


record scientific data had to be carefully packed. Medical 
and surgical supplies had to be taken. There were outfits 
and material for repair work on every kind of equipment. 
There was a library containing technical books, books on 
exploration, and books for recreational reading. Then 
there were the tons and tons of coal, and barrels and bar¬ 
rels of gasoline and oil — nothing must be overlooked. 

Four ships were used to carry all these necessary sup¬ 
plies. Room also was provided for the huge crates con¬ 
taining the three airplanes which were a very important 
part of the expedition. It is interesting to learn that one 
of the ships of this little fleet, now renamed the City of 
New York, had been built in Norway over forty years be¬ 
fore and that it had weathered many trips through Arctic 
ice. Its construction was such that instead of being 
crushed by the ice packs it would be pushed above them. 

On August 25, 1928, this ship put out to sea from the 
harbor of New York, bound for Dunedin, New Zealand, 
the place from which the expedition would set sail for 
Antarctica, 2,300 miles to the south. 

The departure from Dunedin was ihade on December 2, 
and on Christmas Day, 1928, the ice walls about the Great 
Ice Barrier loomed into view. A few days later a landing 
was made at the Bay of Whales, and Little America was 
established a few miles inland, near the site where nine¬ 
teen years before the Norwegian camp had awaited 
Amundsen and his companions, who were trudging along 
with their dog teams over the snows from the South Pole. 
But the trip this time was to be taken by way of the air. 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 


79 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

Unloading the Big Plane at Little America 

A large all-metal tri-motored Ford monoplane, named the 
Floyd Bennett in honor of Byrd’s companion on his flight 
over the North Pole, was to carry the explorer and his 
companions on the perilous polar flight. There were two 
other planes, the Stars and Stripes, a Fairchild, and the 
Virginian, a Fokker plane, each with a 425-horsepower 
Pratt and Whitney Wasp engine. These later were to be 
used for scouting flights and to explore uncharted areas 
about Little America. 

In the early part of March the Virginian had taken Pro¬ 
fessor Lawrence Gould, Bernt Balchen, and Harold June 
to the far-away Rockefeller Mountain section, where it 
had been staked out while they were examining land for¬ 
mations and obtaining specimens. A terrific blizzard 



80 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


swept over their little camp. The Virginian was torn 
loose from the stakes and dashed, a miserable wreck, 
against the snow. The men were left in the mountains 
with no way of returning except by foot. The winter 
was approaching and flying days were few, but Byrd in¬ 
sisted on going to their rescue. With two companions he 
headed the Stars and Stripes toward the mountains. The 
wrecked Virginian was discovered, and a large ‘T’ made of 
orange flags, indicating a landing space, was visible on the 
snow. The rescue plane was landed safely. Byrd 
anxiously looked about and found the three members of 
his expedition well though “disconsolate after their battle 
with the storm which had wrecked their plane.” Like a 
true hero, Byrd sent Balchen and June back in the plane 
while he and the other members waited for two days, with 
the temperature 25° below zero, for the return of the 
rescue plane. This ended exploration trips, for the winter 
was near at hand and every one was busy preparing for 
the long polar darkness which would soon be upon them. 

The two remaining planes, with their engines snugly 
covered, were placed deep in their dugout snow hangars. 
On April 18, the sun disappeared from view, not to become 
visible again until the following August. 

It is interesting to read about the busy life of the men 
in their home under the snow, lighting their way through 
the tunnels with flash lights and lanterns, as they went 
from one ‘building’ to another, while outside the ther¬ 
mometer went down, down, 50° below zero, 60°, 64°, and 
on a mid-July day while New York City was sweltering in 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 


81 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Stars and Stripes Flying over Little America 

the heat, even registering 71 ° below zero. How happy they 
must have been when Old Sol appeared again! What a 
celebration as the Stars and Stripes, followed by the British 
and the Norwegian flags, was unfurled and mounted on 
the flagpole! 

September came and went. October saw the prepara¬ 
tions for the polar flight nearly completed. On October 
15, a supporting party started south with its line of loaded 
dog-drawn sledges to lay a base of supplies over three 
hundred miles away. Then came November. Motors 
were tuned up daily. In the big Ford plane, the central 
engine, a 525-horsepower radial air-cooled Wright Cyclone, 
and the 225-horsepower side engines, gave forth their 






82 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


steady regular hum which satisfied the trained ear of the 
mechanic. Everything was ready now. Would the day 
ever come when visibility would make possible the suc¬ 
cess of one of the greatest adventures ever attempted by 
man? 

On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1929, the great 
leader decides to wait no longer. Bernt Balchen, Harold 
June, Ashley McKinley, and Richard Evelyn Byrd 
enter the cabin of the big tri-motored monoplane, heavy 
with its load of over seven tons. Bernt Balchen is at the 
controls; June at the radio. McKinley is busy with his 
camera, and the skillful navigator who is to direct the path¬ 
way through the skies is seated where he can watch the 
many instruments. The plane slides along on its trusty 
skis, rises in the air; the thirty-eight men left behind shout 
Godspeed and toss their hats in the air from the very joy 
their unselfish hearts feel in their part in this marvellous 
adventure. 

The plane gains altitude, is lost to view. For five hours 
it speeds southward as straight as an arrow. Mountains 
still a hundred miles away are visible in the distance. Then 
the bare, vertical, snow-bound rocks appear. A quick 
decision and a course is taken up an opening in the moun¬ 
tains made by a time-old glacier; a huge high-humped peak 
is ahead! Balchen, fighting the changing air currents, 
forsees disaster unless the load is lightened. Overboard 
is strewn three weeks’ supply of food. Better food than 
the precious gasoline without which they could never fly 
back! More food is sacrificed, and then still more, until 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 


83 


a bare five hundred pounds are left. But now a shout of 
joy from Balchen as the plane rises over the mountains, 
and a level polar plateau lies ahead. It is straight flying 
now. Midnight comes, not a dark midnight, but with the 
sun's rays across the horizon. Then another hour goes 
by and at 1:25 a.m. Commander Byrd passes a message to 
June, who clicks out these words by radio to those anxious 
men at Little America and on to all peoples of the world: 
“My calculations indicate that we have reached the vi¬ 
cinity of the South Pole." Then a trap-door in the plane 
is opened. In Commander Byrd's hand is a silk Ameri¬ 
can flag weighted with a small oval stone brought with 
him from the grave of Floyd Bennett. A salute is given 
as the American emblem, with its token in memory of a 
courageous comrade, floats to the whiteness below. The 
flags of three other nations follow: one for that splendid 
Norseman, Roald Amundsen; one for the immortal Eng¬ 
lishman, Robert F. Scott; and a French flag in honor of 
the people of France. The plane circles the spot where 
all meridians come together and then starts on its return 
flight. Clouds begin to show their fleecy masses along 
the horizon in the rear. The plane is light and it slides 
through the mountain passes, following the same glacier 
over which it had flown on its southward flight. A land¬ 
ing is made at the mountain base where gasoline has been 
previously stored. The plane is refueled here, and food 
is left for Gould and his party of geologists. 

Within an hour the plane again heads northward and 
on November 29, 1929, at 10:10 Arctic time, the Floyd 


84 


HISTORY AND ROMANCE 


Bennett comes to earth again, amid the joyous shouts of 
the men at Little America. In eighteen hours and forty- 
one minutes, less than one day, the airplane had made 
possible a trip of sixteen hundred miles over a route which 
Amundsen had needed ninety-seven days to cover! It 
had carried the American flag a thousand miles farther 
south than it had ever been before. Congratulations 
poured in from everywhere, keeping the radio busy. Then 
on Christmas Day came the news that Commander Byrd 
had been promoted to the rank of a rear admiral in the 
United States Navy. 

Busy weeks followed. Exploring trips some hundreds 
of miles away occupied the time and attention of the 
little group. Then came the preparations for leaving this 
polar country. Fear was felt lest the City of New York 
could not weather the ice pack and reach the Bay of 
Whales. But on February 18, sheathed in a coat of frozen 
spray weighing over 200 tons, she reached her goal. By 
9:30 o’clock the following morning everything was ready 
for a speedy departure from Little America. But there 
was no room to take the victorious plane on board. It had 
served its purpose, and there it was left, silhouetted against 
the sky — an appropriate monument to the accomplish¬ 
ment of a great task. 

A splendid welcome was given to the expedition at 
Dunedin, New Zealand, whence it had sailed over fifteen 
months before. It was not until June 19, 1930, that Rear 
Admiral Byrd reached New York to receive his. third offi¬ 
cial welcome, greatest and heartiest of all, exceeding those 


IN THE ANTARCTIC 


85 


he had received for flying over the North Pole and for fly¬ 
ing across the Atlantic. Admiral Byrd paid high tribute 
to the services and loyalty of his comrades on the expedi¬ 
tion ; for himself he said, “It is good to be back again.” 


Sir Douglas Mawson 

Another man whose explorations have added thousands 
of square miles to the known area of Antarctic lands and 
whose information gained on weather conditions will be 
of valuable aid to aircraft visiting these areas, is Sir Doug¬ 
las Mawson, the Australian scientist. 

He is commander of the British, Australian, and New 
Zealand Antarctic Research Expedition which has ex¬ 
plored the coast of Antarctica opposite to that traversed 
and viewed by air by Wilkins and by the Byrd Expedition. 
He is convinced that the airplane is a convenient and safe 
method for transportation over polar areas and has made 
use of one in his recent explorations in the Antarctic re¬ 


gions. 






PART II 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 

TYPES OF BALLOONS AND DIRIGIBLES 
SOME GREAT AIRSHIPS OF GERMANY AND 
ENGLAND 

UNCLE SAM’S AIRSHIPS 








CHAPTER V 


TYPES OF BALLOONS AND DIRIGIBLES 

A balloon leaves the ground because it is filled with a 
gas that is lighter than the air it replaces. 

Balloons trace their ancestry backward over a long 
period. You have already read how the Montgolfier 
brothers, the brothers Charles, De Rozier, Blanchard, and 
others amazed the people of their times with the ascen¬ 
sions of their gayly colored balloons, filled at first with 
hot air and later with hydrogen. 

Hydrogen was first investigated in 1766 by an English 
scientist named Henry Cavendish, who called it ‘inflam¬ 
mable air/ It is 14% times lighter than air, is the lightest 
known gas, and is therefore specially fitted to give the 
needed buoyancy to balloons and dirigibles. It has one 
great disadvantage, however — it takes fire easily and this 
inflammability may bring about violent and destructive 
explosions. 

In 1895 another British chemist discovered helium. 
This gas is not so light as hydrogen, but it has the decided 
advantage that it does not burn. Helium is present in 
mineral springs and in natural gases that rise from wells 
in many parts of the United States. It is from such 
89 


90 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 


wells that our government is obtaining its supply for use 
in its balloons and airships. 

At certain intervals helium must be removed from the 
ship, purified, and replaced. The plants for doing this 
work are under the jurisdiction of the Federal Bureau of 
Mines. 

Balloons for ordinary observation and those which indi¬ 
viduals use for exhibition purposes at country fairs are 
filled with ordinary illuminating gas. 

There are two distinctive types of balloons — those 
which float in the air without mechanical means for di¬ 
recting them and those which have special mechanical 
devices, such as motors and propellers, for direction and 
control. The former are known as free balloons; the lat¬ 
ter are called dirigibles. An airship is a dirigible bal¬ 
loon. 

Unmanned free balloons, small balloons not intended 
to carry passengers, are used by the Army and Navy in 
observations at their weather stations. Instruments 
which register the air pressure (barometers), the tempera¬ 
ture (thermometers), and the relative humidity (hy¬ 
grometers) are placed in these balloons. These instru¬ 
ments are packed very carefully in cases, so that no harm 
comes to them when the balloon finally reaches such 
an altitude that it bursts and the instruments fall to the 
ground. The results of such observations supply accurate 
and useful data on weather conditions of the upper regions 
of the atmosphere. Of course, this method is expensive, 
for the instruments are costly, many of them are lost, and 


TYPES OF BALLOONS AND DIRIGIBLES 91 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

Fleet of Six Smaller Goodyear Airships on ‘Dress Parade’ 


some are found but not returned to the government sta¬ 
tion where they were sent up. 

Other free balloons which do carry passengers are used 
in the effort to gain altitude or distance records or to 
make meteorological observations. 

Free balloons have been used frequently during war 
times for making observations. Many hundreds of curi¬ 
ous-looking, kite-shaped and sausage-shaped balloons were 
used during the World War. These were called captive 
balloons because they were anchored to the ground by a 
strong rope and could be rapidly hauled down to earth by 
a windlass. Captive balloons were also anchored to ships, 




92 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 


because from the high-vision points they reached, subma¬ 
rines could be better located than from the decks or mast¬ 
heads of the ships. 

Controlled balloons, or dirigibles, were first conceived 
as aerial rowboats. As the years passed, many primitive 
types of propellers were designed. At first these pro¬ 
pellers were manually operated; later crude efforts were 
made to apply steam power. At last came the internal- 
combustion engine to solve the problem of propulsion. 

Modern dirigible balloons, or airships, are of three sorts: 
non-rigid, semi-rigid, and rigid. Non-rigid airships rely 
upon the interior gas pressure to preserve their shape, and 
are relatively small in size. They are familiarly called 
blimps . France may be considered the home of this type. 

Italy, in particular, has developed the semi-rigid type. 
The Italian ship Norge, which, you will remember, flew 
over the North Pole in 1926, was a semi-rigid dirigible. 
In this type the shape is partly maintained by a frame¬ 
work, or keel structure. 

It was through the vision and perseverance of Count 
Zeppelin, a German army officer, that the rigid types of 
airship were developed. These are now officially known 
as Zeppelins. These rigid dirigibles are so important a 
development that it is desirable to learn something of 
their history, their design, and their construction. 


CHAPTER VI 


SOME GREAT AIRSHIPS OF GERMANY 
AND ENGLAND 

The Graf Zeppelin 

The Graf Zeppelin, the 127th airship to be built in Ger¬ 
many, is one of the largest dirigibles which has ever flown. 
It well illustrates the remarkable progress that has been 
made in conquering the air by lighter-than-air machines. 

The framework of the Zeppelin is made of duralumin, 
an aluminum alloy which is nearly as strong as steel. This 
frame is covered with a special fabric coated with an 
aluminum powder compound. Fabric treated with this 
compound reflects the heat waves and reduces the risk of 
fire. 

Within the framework there are seventeen cells which 
contain hydrogen gas. These cells are made of tightly 
woven cloth lined with goldbeater’s skin. The gold¬ 
beater’s skin is prepared from the intestines of the ox. 
Though it is very thin, it does not permit any of the gas 
to escape. To each of these cells are attached valves 
which may be operated to release any desired amount of 
gas, thus making the ship less buoyant and enabling it to 
descend. 


93 


94 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 


On the under side of the main body of the ship, a short 
distance from the nose, the main car is located. This 
contains the navigation rooms and the passenger accommo¬ 
dations. The apparatus for steering the ship is located 
in the foremost cabin, called the control room. The large 
glass windows give an unobstructed view to all sides as 
well as downward. In this cabin are also located the 
controls that operate the gas valves, the ballast tanks, 
and the electric telegraph for communication with the 
engine cars. Here also are the compass, the navigating 
instruments, and the switchboard which controls tele¬ 
phonic communication aboard the ship. 

Just back of the control cabin and adjoining it is the 
chart room. Here the maps are kept, and here the navi¬ 
gator checks constantly on the ship’s direction. To the 
left of the chart room is the radio room, where powerful 
radio sets can transmit and receive messages from long 
distances. 

On the right of the chart room is the kitchen, where the 
chef prepares the food on electric stoves for the passengers 
and crew. 

The next cabin is the combination dining and lounge 
room. It occupies the full width of the cabin structure 
and is tastefully and comfortably furnished. There are 
four tables with upholstered chairs, made of surprisingly 
light wood. A radio brings music or other entertainment 
from any broadcasting station that is picked up. The two 
wide windows on either side are set at an angle to improve 
the view earthward. 


AIRSHIPS OF GERMANY AND ENGLAND 95 

From a central corridor leading to the rear, open the 
passengers’ staterooms. There are five of these on either 
side, and each one is equipped to accommodate two per¬ 
sons. Each room has a large window, a table, a clothes 
closet, and comfortable berths. Next to the staterooms 
are the lavatories for men and for women. 

From the end of the main-cabin car there is a ladder 
which leads to the inside of the airship. A long passageway 
extends all the way from the nose to the tail of the big ship. 
Along this passageway are the sleeping quarters of the 
crew, the gasoline tanks, the water ballast tanks, and space 
for mail and baggage. 

From this corridor there extend ‘cat walks’ to each of 
the five separate ‘gondolas’ which are suspended from the 
main framework of the ship. In each of these gondolas 
is a propelling engine. These engines are designed so 
that they can run on either gasoline or Blau Gas (a special 
gas invented by a German named Blau). The interesting 
thing about this gas is that it has the same weight as air. 
The ship, therefore, is no heavier when it takes on a supply 
of this fuel, nor is it lighter after this gas is consumed. A 
quantity of gasoline is carried to serve as an emergency 
ballast. 

The interest of the world was centered on Dr. Hugo 
Eckener as he piloted the Graf Zeppelin around the world 
in 1929. About midnight on the eighth of August the 
sky was clear, and the weather reports were favorable as 
the giant airship was towed out of the hangar at Lake- 
hurst, New Jersey. It rose into the air and headed for 


96 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Graf Zeppelin at Friedrichshafen, Germany 

New York City. It circled the city, passed the Statue 
of Liberty, and turned its silver nose eastward into the 
darkness of the Atlantic. 

It reached Friedrichshafen 55 hours and 22 minutes 
later, on the first lap of its journey around the world. 
After four days in Germany it again pointed its nose 
eastward to sail for 6,800 miles to Tokio, Japan. The 
flight for hours over cold Siberia was filled with danger. 
Two severe storms were encountered, one of them over 
uncharted regions of that great territory; but no mishap 
occurred, and the airship made a safe landing at the Kasu- 
migaura Airport, Tokio. Four days were spent here in 
the preparation for the crossing of the Pacific Ocean, the 
first ever attempted by an airship. 




AIRSHIPS OF GERMANY AND ENGLAND 97 


Commander Eckener navigated the giant dirigible 
safely into the Los Angeles Airport on August 26, 1929. 
The next day the ship started on its transcontinental flight 
and reached Lakehurst just a few hours over twenty-one 
days from the day it had begun its globe-circling flight 
of 19,500 miles. 

Germany has a new airship under construction which 
is even larger than the Graf Zeppelin. It will probably 
be used when the German-American Company, being 
organized by Dr. Hugo Eckener, establishes a commercial 
air line from the Old World to the New. 

The R-100 

The R-100, which was built in England, differs some¬ 
what from the German type of dirigible. In length it is 
709 feet, or 63 feet less than the Graf Zeppelin, but in 
diameter it is 133 feet, or 33 feet more. It is designed to 
fly 82 miles an hour, a very fast speed for an airship of this 
size. 

The passenger quarters on the Graf Zeppelin, you recall, 
were arranged in a cabin suspended from the framework 
of the ship. In the R-100, passenger quarters are inside 
the ship and may be compared with those of a steamship. 

There are three floors, or decks, connected by a staircase 
ladder on each side. On the lowest deck are the mess 
deck and cabins for the crew. On the second deck there 
are a dining room and cabins for passengers. The dining 
room seats fifty persons and the two-berth and four- 


98 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 


berth cabins, accommodating fifty persons in all, are 
similar in size and furnishings to those on an ocean 
liner. On the top deck are cabins for fifty more persons, 
a smoking room, and toilet facilities similar to those pro¬ 
vided in a Pullman car. 

Around the outside of the middle decks are wide 
verandas, or 'promenade decks/ to talk in the language of 
the sea. These are built strong enough to allow dancing. 
Many of the cabins on the top deck open on to narrow 
balconies which run along the side of the ship; here 
passengers may sit and gaze through the windows at the 
scenery below. 

You will be amused to learn that, on account of the 
common superstition about the number 13, the cabin 
which bears that number has in it a little wooden mouse, 
the mascot of the ship. 

Electricity, which is generated in the motors in the 
gondolas suspended from the ship, is used for lighting 
the ship throughout and for cooking. 

The flight of the R-100 from Cardington Airport in 
England to St. Hubert Airport at Montreal has proved 
again to the world not only that transatlantic flights by 
airship are possible but even that within a few years air¬ 
craft will be the regular means of quick transportation 
across large water areas. 

Sir C. Dennistown Burney, the designer of the R-100, 
believes that a regular service will be established between 
England and North America, taking upon the average 
two and a half days for the westward passage and a day 


AIRSHIPS OF GERMANY AND ENGLAND 99 



The R — 100 

She is moored to her mooring mast at St. Hubert Airport, Mon¬ 
treal, Canada. 


and a half to two days for the return flight. He points 
out that the airship has one decided advantage over the 
ocean ship in its quicker ‘turn around’; it would be able 
to make thirty-six trips across the Atlantic to every ten 
trips of the ocean liner. 

The R-100 was the fourth airship to cross the Atlantic. 
Another English dirigible, the R-31+, was the first one to 
make such a voyage, in 1919. Two years later this airship 
was almost cut in two by a windstorm at Hamden, Eng¬ 
land. After the R-34 made its trip, the ZRS-3, now the 
Los Angeles, was flown from Germany. The Graf Zep - 




100 AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 

pelin, the third ship to cross, has made several voyages to 
America. 

The sister ship of the R-100, the R-101, the largest ship 
of its kind at that time, met with disaster in a great explo¬ 
sion while flying over France en route to India. 

It was the only airship of its kind in which a smoking- 
room had been provided. This was deemed safe because 
Diesel engines had been installed which used a heavy 
non-explosive fuel oil. The only gasoline on board was 
the small amount necessary for the small engines used 
to start the large ones. 

A special ‘breathing’ apparatus was installed whereby 
any excess pressure within the big outer envelope could be 
automatically released. A current of fresh air circulated 
constantly throughout the ship to sweep away any danger¬ 
ous gas fumes. With these precautionary measures it 
was thought that the R-101 could safely make its trip 
over the hot, tropical regions. Many different reasons 
have been given for the accident. Dr. Hugo Eckener, who 
went to England as a member of the investigating com¬ 
mittee, said that probably some of the gas tanks in the 
front end had sprung a leak, causing the ship to nose over 
and to descend so rapidly that it struck the hillside where 
it met its grim fate. 

One of the great problems in the development of air¬ 
ships has been that of handling them in port. The moor¬ 
ing mast at St. Hubert’s Airport at Montreal is an ex¬ 
ample of a modern structure built for this purpose. When 
the R-100 reached Canada after its transatlantic voyage, 


AIRSHIPS OF GERMANY AND ENGLAND 101 


it was moored to this mast in only twenty-seven minutes 
after the first landing line had been dropped. Three large 
cables, one attached to the nose of the ship and one to 
each side, were reeled in so that the nose came directly 
into that part of the mast called the mooring bell, where 
it was fastened. The passengers and crew were brought 
downward from the ship in the twelve-passenger elevator 
which runs through the center of the 205-foot tower. This 
mooring mast was built by the Canadian government, 
aided by American specialists, at a cost of $750,000. 


CHAPTER VII 


UNCLE SAM’S AIRSHIPS 

Even before we entered the great World War, our gov¬ 
ernment had become interested in the idea of building 
rigid airships. Samples of materials from Zeppelins 
wrecked in Scandinavia were received and analyzed, and 
the development of similar materials was urged by the 
Navy Department. Sample aluminum girders for air¬ 
ships, for example, were made and tested. 

In the fall of 1916 a board of Army and Navy officers 
was appointed to recommend a policy for the develop¬ 
ment of rigid airships. It was left to the Navy Depart¬ 
ment to develop them in this country or to acquire them 
abroad. 

Congress appropriated $1,500,000 toward the construc¬ 
tion of one rigid airship, $2,500,000 for the purchase of 
one abroad, and $3,000,000 for the construction of sheds, or 
hangars, large enough to house two large airships. The 
R-38, which was the ship purchased from England, unfor¬ 
tunately met with disaster in 1921, while on a test flight. 

The hangar, which was erected in 1919, at Lakehurst, 
New Jersey, was the world’s largest airship shed. From 
the inside it gives the impression of several blocks of 
102 


UNCLE SAM’S AIRSHIPS 


103 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

A Mooring Mast at Lakehurst, New Jersey 
This mast may be towed by tractors. 


fifteen-story buildings. It is large enough to accommo¬ 
date two 5,000,000-cubic-foot ships. When the Graf Zep¬ 
pelin visits this country, it finds comfortable space beside 
the Los Angeles and several 'blimps/ A mooring mast is 
located at this naval base. 


The Shenandoah 

The U.S.S. Shenandoah was developed by the lighter- 
than-air technical staff of the Navy at the Naval Aircraft 
Factory at Philadelphia, and assembled at the Lakehurst 
Station. It went into service in October, 1923, and made 




104 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Los Angeles 
Notice the airplane hooking on. 


many notable flights, including one to the West Coast and 
back. In September, 1925, it was destroyed by a severe 
storm over Ohio. Fourteen men lost their lives in the 
disaster. 


The Los Angeles 

The Los Angeles, which the Navy men call ‘the big 
silver pig,’ was built at Friedrichshafen, Germany, under 
the direction of United States inspectors. It was com¬ 
pleted in September, 1924, and after several successful 
trial flights was flown across the Atlantic in October under 
the command of Dr. Hugo Eckener, of the Zeppelin Com- 




UNCLE SAM’S AIRSHIPS 


105 


pany. On that voyage it flew 5,066 miles in approxi¬ 
mately 81 hours. On November 25 it was christened Los 
Angeles by Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. 

This dirigible is 656 feet in length and has a gas capacity 
of 2,625,000 cubic feet. Its five propellers, each driven 
by a 525-horsepower Mayback engine, give it a speed of 
about 70 miles an hour. The Los Angeles no doubt has 
been seen by many who read this book, for the ship makes 
frequent short trips and has made notable transcontinental 
flights. 


The Akron 

In October, 1928, the United States contracted with the 
Goodyear Zeppelin Corporation of Akron, Ohio, for the 
building of two new airships, one to be completed in 1931, 
the other in 1932. 

The first of these ships, the Akron, was christened 
August 8,1931, by Mrs. Herbert Hoover. It is the custom 
in Europe to christen an airship by breaking a bottle of 
liquid air on it. But since liquid air is really quite danger¬ 
ous — for on account of its extreme temperature it freezes 
instantly any flesh that it may touch — Mrs. Hoover at 
the proper moment cut a silken string which opened a cage 
and released forty-eight beautiful pure white pigeons — 
one for each state. It is the largest lighter-than-air craft 
in existence, being nearly twice the size of the Graj Zep¬ 
pelin. Powered by eight motors, it has a maximum speed 
of 84 miles per hour. At a cruising speed of 50 miles per 



The Akron 

Cut-away drawing showing compartments in the ship. 
















UNCLE SAM’S AIRSHIPS 


107 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Evolution of the Airship 

Just inside the orange-peel doors of the Goodyear-Zeppelin dock 
at Akron are seen a free balloon, a blimp, and the duralumin frame¬ 
work of the airship Akron, recently completed for the United States 
Navy. 

hour it can travel over 10,000 miles, or more than twice 
as far as can the Los Angeles, without refueling. 

A unique and outstanding feature is the provision of a 
complete airplane hangar within the hull of the ship. 
Here may be housed five high-performance airplanes. 
These planes are raised or lowered on a trapeze swing¬ 
ing through large doors in the bottom of the hangar. Spe¬ 
cial hooks on the wings of the airplanes are used to attach 
them to the trapeze. 

The Akron looks different from the other dirigibles as it 





108 


AIRCRAFT LIGHTER THAN AIR 


glides through the air; it is fuller, or plumper, than the Los 
Angeles, as the figures in the accompanying table show; 
then, too, its engines do not swing in gondolas, as they do 
in the Graf Zeppelin, but are housed within the hull to 
reduce air resistance. 

The longitudinal and transverse girders for the frame¬ 
work are made of duralumin; they are stronger and more 
efficient than any ever used before and are braced with 
steel wires. Indeed, the strength of the hull is so great 
that it can withstand the wrenches of storms and squalls 
twice as severe as the Los Angeles could successfully en¬ 
counter. Eleven separate cells of gas-tight fabric, con¬ 
taining the non-inflammable helium gas, give the neces¬ 
sary buoyancy. Over the huge framework is drawn 
smooth and tight the aluminized fabric which gives the 
lovely silvery effect. At the rear, as in all dirigibles, hori¬ 
zontal and vertical surfaces are attached. On the vertical 
fins there are movable rudders, and on the horizontal fins 
there are elevators. These surfaces act as stabilizers; that 
is, they help to keep the ship steady. The vertical rud¬ 
ders steer the ship to the right or the left; the elevators 
nose it up or down. 

Construction has been begun in the Goodyear dock at 
Akron on the second of these airships, to be as large as, if 
not larger than, the Akron. 


Zeppelin Rigid Scout 



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WORLD’S SIX RIGID DIRIGIBLES 





















































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PART III 

AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 

PERIODS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIR¬ 
PLANE 

SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 
THE POWER PLANT 
INSTRUMENTS 

FORCES ACTING ON A PLANE 
FEATURES IN DESIGN 

THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT ON AIR 
NAVIGATION 


If 







CHAPTER VIII 

PERIODS IN THE DEVELOPMENT 
OF THE AIRPLANE 

Some one has aptly divided the development of air¬ 
craft and air transportation in this country into four 
periods — the Pre-War period, the War period, the Pre- 
Lindbergh period, and the Post-Lindbergh period. 


The Pre-War Period and the ‘Barnstormers’ * 

It is difficult for any one today to believe that in the 
first decade of this century there was little if any news of 
aviation to be found in the daily newspapers and that to 
most people the idea of being propelled through the air 
was ridiculous and foolhardy. But even though no 
newspaper men were present to witness and report it, 
the Wright brothers did prove in 1903 that flying was 
possible, for their man-carrying, motor-powered machine 
rose from the ground and remained in the air for twelve 
seconds. Their subsequent flights in America and other 

* The term ‘barnstormer’ was originally applied to a member of any 
small wandering troupe of actors who played in barns in the country 
districts where there was no available theater or hall. 

113 


114 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


successful attempts abroad, especially those of Santos 
Dumont in France, aroused public interest and the his¬ 
tory of modern aviation may be said to date its begin¬ 
ning from that time. 

When the United States government purchased a 
Wright airplane in 1908, the first airplane to be bought 
by any government, there was awakened the idea of flight 
for commercial purposes. But its development was handi¬ 
capped by the lack of money available for research in de¬ 
sign and for construction. Financing was done by com¬ 
panies whose sources of income were prizes or the sales of 
their products to rich sportsmen or exhibitors. Aircraft 
competitions both here and abroad and the exhibition of 
aircraft throughout the country aroused interest in flying, 
but afforded meager opportunity for the development of 
aeronautics as a science. 

While the Army and Navy were carrying on experiments 
and inventors were busy taking out important patents, 
the interest of the public in aviation was kept alive by 
individuals who singly or in groups traveled about the 
country on ‘barnstorming’ tours. 

It is said that in 1916 Frank M. Hawks, one of our most 
brilliant airmen, got his first airplane ride by false pre¬ 
tense. He pretended to be a newspaper reporter and 
promised a barnstormer, a Mr. Christopherson, in Long 
Beach, California, that he would give him a good ‘write-up’ 
for a ‘ride up.’ He got the ride, but he was not a reporter 
and could not keep his end of the bargain. It bothered 


DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIRPLANE 115 

him so much that he returned to his newly made friend, 
told him the truth, confessed that he did not have the 
fifteen dollars, the price of the ride, but offered to ‘work 
it out.’ Mr. Christopherson consented to this, and the 
young man set to work. He not only paid for his first 
ride but earned many more trips in the sky and learned 
many things which were of value to him in his student 
days at Brooks Field and in his own barnstorming days 
after the War, before he won national fame by flying across 
the continent in a little over twelve hours. 

Exhibitors were so frequently employed to attract 
visitors to county and state fairs that by 1914 no such 
exposition was considered up-to-date unless on its pro¬ 
gram there appeared a notice of some more or less spec¬ 
tacular demonstration in flying. Most of those who saw 
had no ambition to learn about aviation. They were 
there to be entertained, and got their money’s worth in 
witnessing daring feats, even though these feats might cost 
the life of some youth who went aloft in an airplane 
which would never be approved by the Department of 
Commerce today and whose only test of airworthiness 
lay in the fact that it could be flown this time if not the 
next one. 

To these barnstormers much credit is due after all, be¬ 
cause they did make a valuable contribution to aviation 
in acquainting the people of the times with the perform¬ 
ance of the airplane and in stirring their imaginations 
as to its possibilities. 


116 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


The War Period 

Then came the World War. Few governments had 
given much thought to the possibilities of aircraft as 
weapons of war, as aids to the movement of armies in 
observation, in photography, in fighting, and in bomb¬ 
ing. 

With the rapid adoption of trench warfare, the cavalry 
of the armies, so useful in previous wars, became ineffectual 
as a means of obtaining information, so that the airplane 
became literally the ‘eyes of the Army.’ 

The planes in use at first were of the same type that 
the Wright brothers had flown a decade before. They 
were of open, flimsy construction with small power plants. 
But their importance was speedily recognized. Improve¬ 
ment was necessary to enable them to carry observers, 
bombs, or other equipment for warfare. A new era 
opened; designers who had been previously handicapped 
by the lack of funds were now given every facility and 
financial aid necessary to produce practical aircraft. 

With the cooperation of the automobile industry, which 
was in position to manufacture motors suitable for air¬ 
planes, it is small wonder that the airplane went through 
a development so rapid that at the end of the war, air¬ 
planes were being produced so far improved in design and 
construction as to compare quite favorably with those of 
even a decade later. 

The motors that proved most reliable and that became 
favorites during the war were the French rotary types, 


DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIRPLANE 


117 


the Gnome and Le Rhone; the German Mercedes; and 
the American Liberty. 

During this short period of hasty experiment and rapid 
development, when so many of the fundamentals of aero¬ 
dynamics had to be discovered and conquered, it is no 
wonder that many mistakes were made which cost the 
lives of thousands of brave young men. Many of them, 
fine types of young manhood from the college campuses 
throughout the land, were eager and willing to try their 
hands at flying. Some took to the art as the proverbial 
duck takes to water. Sometimes with only an hour’s in¬ 
struction from a pilot who himself had perhaps less than 
fifty hours in the air, they were able to solo. Training 
days were hectic days and the death rate both in America 
and abroad was heavy. But when countries are at war, 
heroic measures become necessary. What a challenge to 
the adventurous spirit of youth enlistment in the aviation 
corps afforded! The pluck and daring of these knights 
of the air, were they friends or foes, merited admiration 
as they courted death in their conflict for the supremacy 
of the sky. 

A famous German pilot who struck terror to the hearts 
of all Paris was Lieutenant Max Immelmann, who ap¬ 
peared regularly every afternoon at five o’clock to drop 
bombs over that city. The familiar sound of his whir¬ 
ring motor sent people scurrying to their cellars, but when 
the explosion of the bombs announced the end of his day’s 
work, they would hurry forth in time to gaze skyward at 
their intrepid enemy, who seemed to escape in some 


118 AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 

miraculous fashion the thousands of bullets sent toward 
him from the guns below. It was he who invented the 
Tmmelmann turn/ which he used many times to escape 
the Allied planes, only to lose his life later in the war. 

But Germany, whose superiority in the air had to be 
acknowledged in the earlier days, soon began to realize 
that America, England, France, and Italy had equal engi¬ 
neering ability and that the sons of these Allied countries 
were no less skillful and no less brave than her own. 

Even before America entered the war, many of her 
airmen had already joined the French service. A number 
of them organized the Escadrille Americaine, the American 
air squadron, which eventually stood third in all France 
in number of victories over the enemy. Those pilots who 
had brought down five of their opponents in these air duels 
were known as ‘aces/ 

The American ace of aces, who had twenty-five con¬ 
firmed victories to his credit, was a young automobile 
racer from Columbus, Ohio, Captain Edward U. Ricken- 
backer. His experience on automobile speedways had ac¬ 
customed him to danger and had trained his mind to quick 
decision in moments of peril, both characteristics being in¬ 
dispensable to an army flier. He showed more than aver¬ 
age ability in ‘sizing up’ a situation and in foreseeing the 
intentions of an opponent. He studied the tactics of suc¬ 
cessful maneuvers and held it advisable to avoid, if pos¬ 
sible, any unnecessary risk. A stubborn tenacity, coupled 
with good judgment and possibly sprinkled with an ele¬ 
ment of good luck, carried him through encounter after 


DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIRPLANE 


119 


encounter with the enemy planes and brought him at last 
through the war for future service to his country. 


The Pre-Lindbergh Period 

After the war most of the American pilots left the mili¬ 
tary service and became 'Q.B.’s,' 'quiet birds.' Not a few 
of them, however — and their number was increased by 
youngsters who had been thrilled by the exploits of war¬ 
time maneuvers and who had learned in one way or an¬ 
other to fly — took up aviation as a means of earning a 
livelihood. 

Our government found itself in possession of a large 
amount of aviation equipment of no further value to it. 
This equipment was auctioned off at but a fraction of its 
cost. These war-time planes and engines enabled many 
hundreds of civilians and ex-service pilots to establish 
themselves permanently in towns throughout the coun¬ 
try, where they took up passengers for short rides, gave 
instruction in flying, did aerial photography, took pas¬ 
sengers on emergency cross-country flights, or went on 
barnstorming tours, thus contributing much toward de¬ 
veloping the commercial air service peculiar to the United 
States. 

It was in one of these war-time training ships, the JN~4, 
affectionately called the 'Jenny,' that Colonel Lindbergh 
took his first solo flight and made his barnstorming trips 
before being enrolled as a flying cadet at Brooks Field. 

By the end of 1926 the surplus of war aircraft became 


120 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


exhausted, and new types of equipment with improved 
design and higher-powered engines were developed. 

Air meets and air races took on a different aspect. 
Spectators became more interested in aviation from a com¬ 
mercial standpoint. The prevention of accidents became 
a common topic of conversation. 

After the war, the use of the parachute gave confidence 
to fliers and enabled them to conduct experiments with 
new types of aircraft without risk of life in case the air¬ 
plane failed to make a safe descent. 

Although the government has not given money directly 
to aid the aviation industry, it has indirectly stimulated its 
progress by fostering races and competitions, by purchas¬ 
ing equipment for experimental purposes, by steadily in¬ 
creasing the number of airmail routes, and by spending 
money in establishing and maintaining weather stations, 
radio stations, lights, and other means for safety in air 
travel over many thousands of miles of airways. 


The Post-Lindbergh Period 

The great event that awakened renewed interest in avia¬ 
tion, that stirred the imagination of people everywhere, 
that quickened the pulse of the airplane industry, took 
place when a young air-mail pilot came out of the West 
and spanned the Atlantic alone in his single-motored 
monoplane. Charles A. Lindbergh was the ambassador 
of progress. His intense interest in his chosen profession 
and the high faith he had in its future gave him courage 


DEVELOPMENT OF THE AIRPLANE 121 

to prove to the world its possibilities. His extraordinary 
achievement, coupled with the program for active, but 
sane, progress which he has consistently advocated since 
his transatlantic and other epochal flights, has been an out¬ 
standing factor in the fourth period of development in 
which we now find American aeronautics. 

The growth of aviation in America since Lindbergh’s 
flight has been spectacular, until today America leads the 
world in air transport over airways well equipped for day 
and night service. 


CHAPTER IX 

SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 

With the invention of mechanical motor power and espe¬ 
cially with the development of the internal-combustion 
engine, came many attempts to apply these forces to sus¬ 
tain machines heavier than air and to give them motion 
through the air. 

The various types of machine that have been developed, 
like the ornithopter, the helicopter, the autogiro, the am¬ 
phibian, and so forth, can best be understood if we first 
get familiar with the different parts of the modern flying 
machine, know their names and what they are designed 
to do. 


The Essential Parts and Their Purposes 

* 

An airplane may be divided into the following parts: 
(1) the wings, or airfoils, (2) the fuselage, (3) the em¬ 
pennage, (4) the landing gear, and (5) the control system. 
By examining the accompanying drawing you will be able 
to understand clearly the descriptions of these parts that 
follow. 

The fuselage is the body of the plane. It contains the 
122 


SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 123 

necessary space for the pilot and passengers, the instru¬ 
ments for navigating, the fuel tanks, and the extra bag¬ 
gage or accessories. The part of the plane which houses 
the power plant, or motor, is sometimes called the nacelle. 
On the rear part of the fuselage are attached those 



A—Fuselage H—Cockpit 

B—Wings, or Airfoils I—Tailskid 

C—Ailerons J—Front Landing Gear 

D—Horizontal Stabilizers, or Fins K—Power Plant 

E—Elevators, or Flippers L—Propeller, or ‘Prop’ 

F—Vertical Stabilizers, or Fins M—Struts 

G—Rudder 

horizontal surfaces called the horizontal stabilizers, or fins, 
and those vertical surfaces called vertical stabilizers, or 
vertical fins. To the horizontal stabilizers are attached 
the movable elevators, or flippers, and to the vertical fin is 
attached the movable rudder. This entire group of stabil¬ 
izing surfaces is known as the empennage. 


124 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


There is also attached on the bottom of the fuselage 
near the tail that part of the landing gear called the tail 
skid. 

The main parts which give shape and strength to the 
fuselage are (1) the longerons, (2) the vertical compres¬ 
sion members, (3) the diagonal bracing struts, and (4) the 
bracing wires. 

The longerons run horizontally from front to back. The 
vertical members give height to the fuselage. The diag¬ 
onal struts act as braces, as also do the bracing wires. The 
floor of the fuselage is made of plywood. 

Attached to the under part of the fuselage is the land¬ 
ing gear in the form of wheels fitted with rubber 
tires for landing on land, or skis for landing on snow. 
On amphibians, pontoons like small boats are added 
to the landing gear for landing on water. To lessen 
the strain on the plane in landing, shock absorbers are 
installed. 

To the upper part of the fuselage are attached the air¬ 
foils, or wings, by special metal fittings, struts, and wires. 
The wings are the most interesting of all the parts. It is 
through their design and construction that speed and lift¬ 
ing power are given to the plane. Just back of the front 
edge, or leading edge, of the airfoil there is generally a 
main spar. From this main spar to the rear edge, or trail¬ 
ing edge, of the wing are attached ribs. To hold the ribs 
firm, there is another spar about two-thirds of the distance 
back. 

There are two kinds of ribs: the skeleton rib and the 


SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 


125 


compression rib. The skeleton rib has portions of it cut 
away to give lightness. The compression rib is heavier 
and gives the necessary strength. Between the compres¬ 
sion ribs wires are strung to give additional strength and to 
hold the wing firm in landing and taking off, as well as in 
flight. The shape of the ribs determines the shape of the 
airfoil. The wing may be ‘thin’ or Tat/ This curved 
shape is spoken of as camber; thus we may say one wing 
has more camber than another. On the back, or trailing 



Cross Section of a Cambered Wing 


edge, of the airfoil are movable parts called ailerons. The 
horizontal and the vertical stabilizers are similar in con¬ 
struction to the airfoils, or wings. 

A set of strong steel cable wires runs from the ailerons 
and the elevators to the stick in the pilot’s cockpit which 
he moves with his hand. Another set of wires runs from 
the rudder to the rudder bar in the cockpit which he 
moves with his feet. 

Over the skeleton of the whole airplane is stretched 
closely woven linen or cotton cloth. This fabric is made 
air-tight and water-tight by the application of four or five 
coats of a chemical preparation known as Mope.’ The 
dope also gives tautness and strength to the fabric. 

To hold the fabric in place and to keep it from tearing, 
light strips of cane, wood, or fabric tape are placed along 










126 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


the edge, through which tacks are driven. The dope, 
which penetrates the cloth, also sticks it to the parts. 
Sometimes the fabric is stitched with flax cord over both 
the upper and lower wing ribs. 

Some planes are now made entirely of metal. The tri- 
motored Ford monoplane is an example. One advantage 
of using metal lies in the possibility of testing its strength. 
After a given kind of metal has been tested, the designer 
can figure the strength of his entire structure. This is 
not true of wood. The fact that one piece stands up under 
a certain test is no guarantee that another piece will do so. 
Although metal covering for planes is heavier than fabric 
covering, its strength and durability make its use seem 
logical. 


Types of Powered Aircraft 

The preceding description of the various parts of the 
airplane was illustrated by showing how they were as¬ 
sembled in the type with which every one is familiar. But 
not all planes are of this type. 

There have been developed many interesting variations 
of a type of aircraft called the ornithopter. In this type 
an attempt has been made to install flapping wings in 
imitation of the wings of birds. But, though man has 
profited greatly from his study of the principles upon 
which the flight of birds depends, so far the application 
of these principles has never proved successful. 

Another type, called the helicopter, has wing surfaces 


SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 


127 



The Curtiss Helicopter 

Note the difference between the wings of the helicopter and those 
of other types of airplane. 

which are revolved by power in such a way as to lift 
the plane and at the same time to give it forward mo¬ 
tion. 

It is interesting to know that three official Federation 
Aeronautique Internationale records were established in 
1931 by Marinello Nelli, an Italian flyer, with his Ascanio 
helicopter: duration with return to starting point, 8 
minutes, 45 seconds; distance in a straight line, 3539 feet; 
altitude above point of take-off, 59 feet. 

Another, and a decidedly interesting, type is the auto¬ 
giro,.as it is called by Juan de la Cierva, a Spanish inventor, 
whose study and development of this type of machine be¬ 
gan in 1920. The first successful autogiro flight was at 
Getofe Airdrome, Madrid, Spain, in 1923. It was in the 



128 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 



Aero Service Corporation 

An Autogiro 


fall of 1928 that Mr. Harold F. Pitcairn, whose active inter¬ 
est in aviation dates back to 1914, brought an autogiro to 
America. Later that year, on December 19, it was flown 
at Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, the first 
one of its kind to be flown in this country. This plane is 
now among other historic aircraft in the Smithsonian Insti¬ 
tution at Washington. 

It is the rotor system of hinged blades that gives the 
autogiro its name. These blades furnish approximately 
80 per cent of the lift at a high forward speed of more than 
100 miles per hour, and 100 per cent of the lift in its slow, 





SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 


129 


almost vertical descent, a descent slower than that of a 
parachute. 

In the most common type this rotor system consists 
of four hinged blades which are mounted on a hub set on 
a pylon structure on the top of the fuselage. These sur¬ 
faces are free to move at a, speed independent of the ma¬ 
chine as a whole. Their specially constructed attachment 
to the rotor hub by means of articulating joints is the secret 
of this machine’s ability to keep stable and steady in 
taking off and in landing in very small areas. 

The two small wings with upturned wing tips serve to 
carry the ailerons and to provide a mounting for the rather 
wide undercarriage. A motor-driven propeller gives for¬ 
ward motion, as in other planes. 

When Thomas A. Edison saw one of these machines 
take off after a run of fifty feet, zoom directly from the 
ground, and then land with hardly a turn of the landing 
wheels, he exclaimed, “That’s the answer!” and he added 
that he believed that the autogiro represented a great ad¬ 
vance in aviation. 

At Pitcairn Field, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, on De¬ 
cember 18, 1930, Miss Amelia Earhart took one of these 
planes aloft, the first woman ever to fly solo in an auto¬ 
giro. In April, 1931, she established in one an altitude 
record of 18,415 feet. In June she used one on a 'friendly’ 
flight across the continent. It was the second 'wind-mill 
plane,’ as it is sometimes called, to be seen west of the 
Mississippi River. 

On April 22, 1931, President Hoover presented Mr. Pit- 


130 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 



Springfield Union 

The Granville Ascendor 


This craft is a modification of the German ‘duck.’ It seems to 
fly backward, because the elevator, which is at the rear end of 
planes of the standard type, is here attached to the front end of 
a shoe-like fuselage. 

cairn with the Collier Trophy. This trophy, donated by 
the late Robert J. Collier and awarded the first year to 
Glenn H. Curtiss in 1911, goes each year to the person or 
persons deemed tohave accomplished “the greatest achieve¬ 
ment in aviation in America, the value of which has been 
demonstrated by actual flying during the preceding year.” 

The Ascendor, as is shown clearly in the photograph, is 
another type of airplane that looks very different from the 
ordinary type. The empennage, or tail structure, lies in 
front of, instead of behind, the wings and the main body 
of the plane. The effect is curious, because the machine 
seems to be flying backward. The machine shown in the 
picture was designed by Z. D. Granville and first flown at 
Springfield, Massachusetts, in November, 1931. It is a 






SOME TYPES OF POWER CRAFT 


131 


modification of a German type of plane called the Ente, or 
“duck.” The idea in this design is to give greater visibility, 
greater stability, and freedom from the danger of stalling 
and tail spins. This Ascendor is only 16 feet long, has a 
wing span of 38 feet, weighs about 700 pounds, and is 
driven by a 28-horsepower engine. 

The airplane is the name given to the heavier-than-air 
machines with which we are most familiar. A plane that 
is built to take off and land on water is called a seaplane, a 
flying boat, or a hydroplane. When wheels are added 
which may be lowered so that it may also make a landing 
on the ground, it is called an amphibian. 

Then again, airplanes are designated according to the 
number of wings. A monoplane has only one wing, a bi¬ 
plane has two, and the name multiplane indicates that 
there are more than two wings. The wings may be at¬ 
tached above the body, or fuselage, of the plane, or they 
may be attached below it. 


CHAPTER X 


THE POWER PLANT 

The mosf vital part of an aircraft is its motor plant, or 
engine. 


Types of Aircraft Engines 

In general, the aircraft power plant is similar to the 
automobile power plant, but there are certain types of 
engines that have been developed for aircraft that are 
not ordinarily used for automobiles. 

The commonest type of automobile engine is the vertical, 
or in-line, engine. The cylinders, whether four, six, or 
eight in number, ail stand vertically in a row. This type 
of engine is also used in some airplanes, especially in smaller 
planes requiring smaller amounts of power to drive. 

A second type of engine has several cylinders in a row, 
like the in-line engine, but there are two or more rows of 
them. These engines are usually named from some letter 
of the alphabet that describes the arrangement of the rows 
of cylinders, as for example, the V-£2/pe,the inverted V-type, 
the X-type, or the W-type. The V-type engine is frequently 
found in automobiles, like the Cadillac V-type 8. The 
picture of the Curtis Conqueror shows an airplane engine 

132 



In-Line V-Type 600-Horsepower Airplane Engine 
(Curtiss Conqueror) 



Air-Cooled, 9-Cylinder, 575-Horsepower Radial Engine 
(Wright Cyclone) 






134 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


of the V-type, having a set of six cylinders in each leg of 
the V. The in verted-V and other types just mentioned 
have been developed for use in aircraft. 

In aircraft power plants, especially in engines of high 
horsepower, there is often seen another arrangement of the 
cylinders. They are set around the propeller shaft like 
the spokes of a wheel around its hub. This is the radial 
type of engine. Sometimes the whole set of cylinders is 
attached to the propeller and spins about with it, as in the 
Gnome engine. This kind of engine, called a rotary engine, 
was frequently used in French planes during the World 
War, but is seldom seen in America. More commonly, in 
this country, the radial engine is made with the cylinders 
stationary, standing around the revolving shaft on which 
the propeller is fastened. A good idea of this type of 
engine is given by the picture of the 9-cylinder, 575-horse¬ 
power Wright Cyclone engine. 

If you compare this tremendously powerful engine with 
any ordinary automobile engine of perhaps 16 to 35 horse¬ 
power, you will understand that the aircraft engine must 
be much larger to give so much more power. At the same 
time, since weight must be cut down as much as possible 
in any aircraft, it must be much lighter in terms of pounds 
of weight per horsepower developed. For these reasons, 
modern aircraft motors are truly wonderfully developed 
engines, and are now being built to display extraordinary 
endurance. If you will remember that an airplane engine 
is running all the time at almost full load (like an automo¬ 
bile climbing fast up a heavy grade with open throttle), 


THE POWER PLANT 


135 


you will understand how remarkable are the endurance air¬ 
plane records in which, with refueling and minor adjust¬ 
ments during the flight, an engine has driven the plane 
continuously for over six hundred hours. 


How the Engine Works 

Whether the aircraft engine is an in-line engine, or a 
V-type, or a radial type, it must be built by making a series 
of cylinders with a moving piston closely fitting within each 
cylinder. The to-and-fro motions of the piston must turn 
the crankshaft to which the propeller is fastened. Now, 
what makes the piston move back and forth? Above 
the piston there is a valve, called the intake valve , which 
lets in the fuel mixture composed of about fifteen parts 
of air to one part of gasoline. As the piston moves down 
on the intake stroke, as it is called, there is a space left 
without air. The fuel mixture pushes in to fill up this 
space. The intake valve is arranged so that it closes as the 
piston starts upward. You can see what happens. The 
mixture is squeezed and pressed into a small space. This 
is called the compression stroke of the piston. Now some¬ 
thing happens, and it happens with great force. A pulse 
of electricity comes in through the spark plug. It makes 
a flash of fire as it jumps across from one wire end to an¬ 
other wire end at the bottom of the plug, where it projects 
within the cylinder in the compressed fuel mixture. 

This little flash of light is like a match and it sets the 
fuel on fire. The fuel was very hot from being compressed, 


136 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 



A. Intake Stroke: 

Piston moving downward; intake valve open; fuel mixture entering. 

B. Compression Stroke: 

Piston moving upward; both valves closed; mixture being com¬ 
pressed'. 

C. Power Stroke: 

Piston moving downward; both valves closed; mixture ignited by- 
spark from spark plug. 

D. Exhaust Stroke: 

Piston moving upward; exhaust valve open; waste products 
escaping. 

and now, when afire, it is still hotter. You may know that 
things expand with heat. The molecules in the fuel must 
have more room to move; so with great pressure the piston 
is forced downward on the power stroke, as it is called. 

When combustion, or burning, takes place, waste prod¬ 
ucts are formed. Now another valve, called the exhaust 
valve, opens, letting out the waste products as the piston 
comes again to the top on the exhaust stroke. The exhaust 
valve closes as the piston moves downward. In comes the 
fuel again, and the process is repeated. The same thing 

















THE POWER PLANT 


137 


happens in every other cylinder at just the right time. 
Thus the crankshaft is turned rapidly and steadily so long 
as the fuel mixture comes into the cylinder and the elec¬ 
tric current enters the spark plug at just the right moment. 
This process is called a jour-stroke cycle. In one such 
cycle the crankshaft is revolved twice. 


The Fuel System 

The little chamber to which fuel flows from the storage 
tanks is called the carburetor. Here the fuel supply is 
regulated and mixed with air. From the carburetor the 
mixture goes through the intake manifold, as it is called, 
to the cylinder. For flying in high altitudes where the 
air is less dense, devices have been added to the carburetor 
to supply more air, and hence more oxygen, to the fuel mix¬ 
ture. The throttle regulates the amount of the mixture 
fed to the cylinders. 

The Ignition System 

The ignition system manufactures the electric current 
which flows to the distributor, which in turn distributes it 
to the spark plug of each cylinder. The fuel system 
and the ignition system are so important that most 
airplane engines now have two sets of each. If some¬ 
thing should prevent one set from working, the cylinders 
would not be deprived of their fuel or their electric spark. 

In the Diesel type of motor there is no ignition system. 


138 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


The cylinders are built of superior metals which will stand 
great pressure and heat. Air is admitted through an in¬ 
take valve to the cylinder. It is compressed so compactly 
on the compression stroke that it becomes extremely hot. 
At this moment fuel oil is forced in and combustion oc¬ 
curs instantly, sending the piston down on the power 
stroke. 


The Oiling and Cooling Systems 

Other very important parts of the engine are the oiling, 
or lubrication, and the cooling systems. The machinery 
in an engine working so fast needs a constant supply of oil 
to keep the parts from sticking together or wearing out 
from heat, expansion, and friction. 

There are two kinds of cooling systems. In one, liquid 
is circulated about the cylinders. Water is the most com¬ 
mon fluid used. Most automobile engines are water- 
cooled. In the air-cooled motors there are fin-like pro¬ 
jections extending from the sides of the cylinders. The 
heat is dissipated, or taken up by the air, as it rushes by 
them. In the radial type of engine all cylinders are equally 
exposed to the air; therefore this type is an example of 
a successfully air-cooled motor. The air-cooled motor 
has the advantage over the water-cooled motor that 
there is no danger of its freezing in higher altitudes. 
There are no water-supply lines to get out of order, 
and the weight is lessened, which is always an important 
factor. 


THE POWER PLANT 


139 


Recently important improvements have been made by 
the perfecting of liquids far superior to water in cooling 
capacity and in resistance to freezing and boiling. 


The Number of Cylinders 

There is always some vibration in a motor as its cylin¬ 
ders fire, or when combustion takes place, sending the pis¬ 
tons downward on the power stroke. The greater the 
number of cylinders, the shorter interval of time there is 
between the power strokes; and the less the vibration is 
felt, the more smoothly and quietly the engine runs. You 
have noticed the difference, yourself, between a four-cyl¬ 
inder and a six- or eight-cylinder engine in an automobile. 

Then, too, the greater the number of cylinders, the 
greater the power developed and the more work an engine 
can do. The amount of work the whole engine can do is 
measured in terms of horsepower. Horsepower is the 
amount of work necessary to lift 33,000 pounds one foot 
high in one minute, or 550 pounds one foot high in one 
second. Now you can see why engines are spoken of as 
being such-and-such horsepower. Of course, you can also 
see that the more horsepower an engine develops, the 
heavier it must necessarily be. The great problem in mak¬ 
ing airplane engines is to get a reliable engine with the 
least possible weight and the greatest possible horsepower. 

On large commercial planes two or more engines, each 
capable of developing many hundred horsepower, are 
used. 


140 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


Testing the Motor 

Before any type of motor is approved for airplanes, it is 
placed on a stationary block, where for hours at a time it 
is allowed to run at different speeds and its performance 
closely watched and recorded. Then it is taken apart and 
each separate piece is examined closely for any possible 
irregularity in the composition of the metal. 

The Work of the Propeller 

The propeller by its rapid turning either draws the plane 
through the air, as in the tractor type, or pushes the plane 
through the air, as in the pusher type. In the tractor type 
the propeller by the set of its blades has the same effect 
in the air that a screw has in a piece of wood; it pulls, or 
draws, through the air much as the threads on a screw pull 
the screw into the wood. But air is a light, gaseous form 
of matter, so that in order to be effective the propeller must 
cut into the air at a very great speed, turning many times 
per minute. The path the blades travel through the air 
in one revolution will be in the form of a spiral, or helix, 
as it is called. But since the air is so thin, a good deal of 
it slips by, lessening the distance that the propeller would 
actually travel were the air much thicker. This loss of air 
is called the slip-stream. 

The peculiar twist which is noticed in the blades of the 
propeller makes it difficult to construct. A propeller 
must be very strong to withstand all the forces acting 
on it as it travels at such speed through the air. Propellers 


THE POWER PLANT 


141 



The DO-X over the Rhine Country, Germany 

at first were fashioned out of a solid piece of wood. Later 
a number of layers of wood, called laminations, were glued 
together and then the propeller was made from this lami¬ 
nated piece. Now most propellers are made from light 
metal which is tested and forged into shape. The design¬ 
ing of propellers to fit them for the most effective service 
in different altitudes is a problem upon which aeronautical 
engineers are constantly working. 

Multi-Motored Planes 

The DO-X is an example of a multi-motored all-metal 
plane. This enormous plane, with its length of 131 feet 
and its wing spread of 157 feet, is driven by twelve motors 





142 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


arranged tandem along the top of the wing. These de¬ 
veloped enough horsepower so that on one of its first flights 
169 passengers were given nearly an hour’s air ride over 
Lake Constance, in Switzerland. The original 525-horse¬ 
power motors have since been replaced by an equal number 
of American water-cooled ones, each developing 650 horse¬ 
power. These were the motors which brought this gigantic 
flying boat on the 12,000-mile flight to America. Motors 
must be efficient indeed when they can furnish the power 
necessary to carry a plane weighing (fully loaded) 48 tons 
through the air at a cruising speed of 120 miles per hour 
and a maximum speed of 133 miles per hour. 

A striking example of a large multi-motored plane built 
in this country is the American Clipper (the Sikorsky 
S-Jf-0), a 43-passenger, 17-ton amphibian, 76 feet long, with 
a wing spread of 114 feet—the largest amphibian airplane 
in the world. It has four Pratt and Whitney Hornet 
engines of 575 horsepower each, and its maximum speed is 
the same as that of the DO-X, 133 miles per hour. 

It was christened by Mrs. Hoover in November, 1931, 
and was piloted on its maiden voyage to Miami by Colonel 
Lindbergh. This plane and another like it are in use over 
an international air-mail and passenger route between 
Miami, Florida, and Panama, Canal Zone. 


CHAPTER XI 


INSTRUMENTS 

More and more as the accuracy of instruments has been 
perfected, pilots have come to rely upon them for safe 
flying. Indeed all transport companies demand that their 
pilots be skilled air navigators. These pilots must be able 
by the use of instruments to steer the aircraft accurately 
enough to reach their destination and make safe landings 
under the most adverse weather conditions. 

Although aerial navigation is not unlike nautical navi¬ 
gation, the air navigator must be more rapid in calcula¬ 
tion than the ocean pilot. All great flights which have 
culminated successfully have depended upon the flyer’s 
knowledge of aerial navigation and his ability to make 
rapid calculations. 

There are two groups of aircraft instruments mounted 
on a board in front of the pilot; namely, flying instruments 
and power-plant instruments. 

The following are some of the useful flying instruments. 
The air-speed indicators tell the speed of the plane with re¬ 
spect to the air through which it is passing. Planes have 
a minimal and maximal air speed. Allowing the speed 
to drop below this minimum may result in disaster. So, 
143 


144 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 



A Typical Instrument Board 


for efficiency, the plane is flown at some speed between the 
two. The airspeed indicator does not tell the ground 
speed; that is, how many miles over the ground the plane 
has covered. 

The altimeter tells how far above sea level the plane is. 
It does not tell how high above the ground the plane is, 
and adjustments have to be made in flying over moun¬ 
tainous country. 

The climb indicator tells how many feet per minute the 
airplane is ascending or descending. 

The bank and turn indicator helps the pilot to make cor¬ 
rect turns in the air and to level off afterward. 

The magnetic compass shows the direction in which the 
plane is headed. Sometimes the plane has metals in its 
structure which attract the compass. This factor must be 
taken into consideration and adjustments made. 

And, of course, a watch is always rated as an important 
and necessary flying instrument. 



Pilot Using ‘Silencer' Type Transmitter and Phonette Head Set 



Graphic Illustration of Radio-Telephone Plane-to-Ground 
Communication 













146 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 



Bell Telephone Laboratories 

Diagrammatic View of Two-Way Radio-Telephone Equipment 
as Mounted in Large Cabin Planes 


The second group of instruments records the condition 
of the power plant. Important ones are as follows: 

A tachometer indicates the revolutions per minute the 
crankshaft is making. A loss of R.P.M. generally indi¬ 
cates some irregularity in the power plant that needs im¬ 
mediate attention. 

Thermometers show the pilot whether the power plant 
is operating normally or overheating. 

Pressure gauges show whether the engine and its parts 
are getting the proper amount of oil for lubrication and the 
proper amount of fuel mixture for combustion. Fuel 
gauges inform the pilot as to the amount of fuel on hand. 

There are other instruments installed in planes which are 
used on long trips. Colonel Lindbergh used an earth - 











INSTRUMENTS 


147 


inductor compass and a drift indicator on his transatlantic 
flight. Rear-Admiral Byrd used an especially designed 
instrument called a sun compass on his North Pole flight 
which was slightly revised for his South Pole flight. 
Wing-Commander Kingsford-Smith used the radio, which 
in spite of a dense fog insured a safe landing on the coast 
of Newfoundland after his air flight from Ireland. 

The Question Mark, flown by Captain Dieudonne Coste 
and his co-pilot, Maurice Bellonte, on the first non-stop 
flight from Paris to New York, was fitted out with every 
conceivable instrument. 

There are three methods whereby the navigator can 
determine his position when he cannot see land. 

The first is called Mead reckoning.’ This refers to cal¬ 
culation by means of the air-speed indicator and the com¬ 
pass. 

The second, or 'celestial navigation,’ is by using the sex¬ 
tant in a series of observations of the sun, moon, and stars. 
The result may be translated into latitude and longitude by 
the aid of tables. 

The third method is by means of the radio. Radio 
beams or beacons are particularly useful in fogs and are the 
only device which can be used under practically any 
weather conditions. Of course, the plane itself must be 
equipped with a special type of receiving set. 


CHAPTER XII 


FORCES ACTING ON A PLANE 

There are four forces which act on a plane when it is 
in the air. First, the force of gravity tends constantly to 
pull the plane earthward. Second, overcoming this force 
is the ‘lift/ which is given to the plane through the design 
and arrangement of the wing surfaces, or airfoils (liter- 


Lift 



Thrust 


Gravity 

The Forces Acting on a Plane in Flight 


ally, air-leaves). Third, the revolving propeller blade 
pulls or pushes the plane through the air; this force is the 
‘thrust.’ Then, fourth, as the plane is thus pulled through 
the air, it meets the impact of the air on all its parts, and 


148 





FORCES ACTING ON A PLANE 


149 


that causes resistance, or 'drag.’ To keep the plane in 
sustained flight, the lift must be at least equal to the force 
of gravity, and the thrust must overcome the drag. 

In finding out the amount of drag, or resistance, the 
air opposes to a body moving through it, men have made 
some accurate and definite observations which are called 
laws of air resistance. Air, as you probably have already 
learned, has weight, takes up space, and like every other 
kind of matter is composed of tiny particles called mole¬ 
cules. When the molecules are packed close together, the 
air is heavier and denser. The air near the surface of the 
earth is densest, for the molecules are packed close to¬ 
gether by the weight of the air on top. Then the higher 
one goes away from the earth’s surface, the less dense the 
air becomes. The less dense it becomes, the less resistance 
it offers; so it may be said that the resistance of air is in 
proportion to its density. 

The larger the surface passing through the air, the 
greater is the number of molecules encountered; so it is 
said that air resistance is in proportion to the area of the 
surface. The faster the surface travels through the air, the 
greater the number of molecules encountered; and the 
faster the surface travels, the harder those molecules strike 
against that surface. If the speed or velocity of a surface 
were doubled, there would be twice as many molecules hit¬ 
ting the surface twice as hard; so it is said that air resist¬ 
ance is in proportion to the square of the velocity, or to the 
velocity multiplied by itself. 

These are three of the laws of aerodynamics — or the 


150 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


laws which govern the resistance that the air offers to a 
moving object. 

In flight an airplane moves about three axes. Suppose 
you balanced a rectangular block of wood on the end of 
a small round rod. You could keep the block level and 



AB — Vertical axis, about which a plane moves in changing direction — 
controlled by the rudder a. 

CD — Lateral, or horizontal, axis, about which a plane moves in nosing 
up or down — controlled by the elevator b. 

XY — Longitudinal axis, about which a plane tips to one side or the other, 
. as in banking — controlled by the ailerons c. 

still spin it around on this point. If this rod extended 
through the block of wood, the block would be turning on 
its Vertical axis.’ Now suppose that you pushed the rod 
through the block from one side to the other. You could 
tip the block forward and back on the rod, which would 
represent the ‘horizontal’ or ‘lateral’ axis. Finally, you 
could push the rod through the block endways from tip to 
tip perpendicular to the horizontal axis and rock it from 
side to side. It would then be moving around its ‘longitudi¬ 
nal axis.’ An airplane has the same three axes. The verti¬ 
cal axis passes through the center of weight and is the axis 



FORCES ACTING ON A PLANE 


151 


around which the plane revolves as it changes direction. 
The horizontal, or lateral, axis passes from side to side, or 
from wing tip to wing tip, and is the axis about which a 
plane moves as it noses up or noses down. The horizontal, 
or lateral, axis passes from nose to tail and when the plane 
rolls from side to side it moves on its horizontal axis. 

In learning to fly, one has to learn how to adjust or 
move the ‘control surfaces’ of a plane so that it moves 
about one of these axes, although one may move the con¬ 
trols so that the plane will move about all three axes at 
the same time. 

An aeronautical engineer or any one who designs a plane 
must always bear in mind the law of forces which act upon 
it in the air. He must provide means for maintaining sta¬ 
bility of the plane as it moves about its axes. The prop¬ 
erties of speed, lightness, durability, and use must also 
be considered in its design. Some of the details the de¬ 
signer considers are described in the next chapter. 


CHAPTER XIII 
FEATURES IN DESIGN 

In order to reduce the resistance, or drag, a plane is 
‘streamlined.’ Notice how smooth the fuselage appears, 
how few, if any, projections of any kind there are, how it 
tapers off toward the rear. It resembles the fish, whose 
body Nature has streamlined so well. The same feature 
of design is evident in automobiles, especially those in¬ 
tended for speed. Examine the struts of the airplane. 
They too are streamlined. Even the construction wires 
take on this shape. # 

See how the power plant is housed, so that it will offer 
as little resistance as possible. The covering closely fitted 
about the cylinders is called the cowling. In some planes 
the cowling is in the form of a wide band encircling the 
head of the engine. Colonel Lindbergh’s speedy plane 
has this kind of cowling. Streamlining was carried out 
in every feature in his new plane (even the landing gear 
may be drawn up into the wings), for the less resistance, 
or drag, there is, the greater the flying speed. 

The airfoil surface gives the lift to the plane. The 
leading edge of the wing cuts the air current asunder, so 

152 


FEATURES IN DESIGN 


153 



TWO-THIRDS OF WING LIFT IS A RESULT OF SUC¬ 
TION FROM ABOVE THE WING, AND ONE-THIRD IS A 
RESULT OF THE LIFT FROM PRESSURE BELOW THE WING. 


that part of it goes above and part of it goes below the 
wing. 

The camber of the upper surface directs the stream of 
air upward and over in such a fashion that an unfilled space 
is left on the top of the wing. This space is a partial 
vacuum, and it gives an upward suction effect to the wing. 
In fact this gives the wing about two-thirds of its lifting 
power. Then too, on account of the camber, the air 
molecules under the wing do not have so far to go as 
those over the top of the wing. So they travel along closer 
together. This makes the air more dense underneath, and 
therefore it has more pressure. This pressure pushes the 
wing upward into the less dense air above. About one- 
third of the lift comes from this upward pressure. 

A large camber gives more lift to a wing, but on the other 








154 AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 

hand, it increases the wing’s weight and air resistance. The 
greater the amount of airfoil surface the greater the 
amount of air passing over it and the greater is the lift. 
The 'chord’ of the wing, or the distance through the airfoil 

-Span- 

.. -rr _j 

T 

B 

Planes with Differing Aspect Ratios 

A — A wing with small aspect ratio ; the span of the wings is short com¬ 
pared with their chord. 

B — A wing with large aspect ratio; the span of the wings is long com¬ 
pared with their chord. 

from the leading edge to the trailing edge, must not be 
too great, for the air currents must flow smoothly over 
and under the airfoil, so that they can unite at the trailing 
edge without interfering with the progress of the plane. 

It must also be borne in mind that there must be surface 
area. If we decrease the chord, we must increase the 
length of the wing from tip to tip, or its 'span.’ The ratio 
of the span to chord is called aspect ratio. In giving good 
lifting power with minimum drag the proper aspect ratio 
is always an important factor. 

Lift is also given a wing if its leading edge is tilted up¬ 
ward. This angle, which is formed by the chord of the 
wing and the longitudinal axis of the plane, is called the 
angle of incidence. 

The angle between the chord of the wing and the hori- 









FEATURES IN DESIGN 


155 


zontal plane of the earth is called the angle of attack. 
This angle is changed as the plane is nosed up or down, 
but when the plane is in exactly horizontal flight the 
angle of attack and the angle of incidence are the same. 
When the angle of attack is increased beyond a certain 
limit, however, the air currents do not flow over the wing 
smoothly. They set up a turbulent, or burbling, motion 
which greatly increases the drag. When this point, called 
the burbling point, has been reached, the plane loses its 
flying speed and it is said to ‘stall.’ This term stall is not 
used in reference to the engine, as it is in an automobile, 
but in reference to the motion of the plane. The plane 
loses its flying motion, by which the necessary lift is given 
to overcome the force of gravity. 

If you stand at the side of a biplane, you will notice that 
one wing projects beyond the other — generally the upper 
beyond the lower. Drop an 
imaginary line from the top 
wing and another from the 
bottom wing. Now measure 
the distance between these 
lines and you get the ‘stag¬ 
ger’ of the wings. Stagger 
increases lift by increasing 

surface and also -by influenc- Upper wing projecting beyond 

the lower wing. 

ing the air currents to now 

more smoothly. Positive stagger (lower wing set back) 
gives the pilot better visibility. 

Thrust is developed through the propeller, which in 







156 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


turn receives its power from the engine. An engine must 
be installed which develops sufficient power to pull the 
plane through the air at sufficient speed to give lift to the 
wings. The faster the plane travels against, the air mole¬ 
cules, the more resistance, or drag, is encountered; but also, 
the faster the plane travels, the more lift is given to the 
wings. 

The lighter the plane, the less it suffers from the force 
of gravity and the faster it can go, other things, like power 
and strength, being equal. It must be structurally capable 
of housing the motor power and resisting the force of the 
air. 

Since lightness combined with strength and durability 
is such an important factor, great care is used in the selec¬ 
tion of wood, and many difficult problems have been 
solved in the manufacture of metals. The framework of 
the earlier types of plane was made of wood. Now a light 
metal known as duralumin is used. This metal is an 
aluminum alloy nearly as strong as steel but only one- 
third as heavy. 

Before a new feature is built into a plane, its particular 
qualities are put to a rigid test. Scale models are built 
and set up in a huge wind tunnel. Powerful fans blow 
through the tunnel a current of air which corresponds to 
any desired wind velocity. The effect is the same as 
though the plane were flying at the same speed in still air. 
For instance, if the current in the tunnel is, giving a 
velocity of eighty miles an hour, it would have the same 
effect, as though the plane were moving at an air speed 


FEATURES IN DESIGN 


157 


of eighty miles an hour in still air, or the same as though 
it were moving sixty miles an hour against a twenty-mile 
wind. 

If the scale model then behaves in a satisfactory man¬ 
ner, the ‘life-sized’ plane is built. If no errors are made 
in calculating the ratio of the measurements of the model 
to those of the large plane, the latter will behave in the 
air exactly as the model behaved in the tunnel. 

There are, also, wind tunnels in which full-sized air¬ 
planes are tested. The world’s largest tunnel of this sort, 
and a seaplane-testing basin in which full-sized floats are 
studied were completed in 1931 at the Langley Memorial 
Aeronautical Laboratory of the National Advisory Com¬ 
mittee for Aeronautics at Langley, Virginia. 


CHAPTER XIV 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 
ON AIR NAVIGATION 

So important to the success of flying is the weather that 
it has become an outstanding problem for research in 
the field of aeronautics. 

Although the weather is as yet beyond man’s control, 
he may anticipate its condition and govern his activities 
accordingly. The science which treats of weather, its 
changes and their causes, is called meteorology. 

The Atmosphere 

It has always been an interesting problem to scientists 
to determine the height of the atmosphere which sur¬ 
rounds the earth and to learn its conditions. A great deal 
of information has been gained by means of instruments 
sent up in small free balloons which fall to earth unin¬ 
jured after the balloons have burst. 

Such balloons have reached heights of over twenty-two 
miles. 

Thermometers have shown that the air temperature de¬ 
creases to a height of five to ten miles, the altitude de¬ 
pending upon the latitude of the place. After that height 
158 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


159 


has been reached, there is no decrease in temperature, but 
even a slight increase. 

Barometers show that the pressure of the air decreases 
as one ascends, and it is supposed that at a height of 50 miles 
there would be practically no pressure, although an ex¬ 
ceedingly thin envelope of air might extend outward about 
150 miles farther. 

Air is a gaseous form of matter; and since it is matter, 
it has weight. The total amount of air which envelops 
the earth is said to weigh about 58,000,000,000,000,000 
tons. It exerts a pressure at sea level of 14.7 pounds per 
square inch, which is enough to hold the column of mer¬ 
cury in a barometer — the instrument used to measure the 
pressure of the atmosphere — to a height of about 30 
inches. It has at all times a greater or lesser amount of 
water vapor and dust. 

The atmosphere is divided into two layers. The layer 
which envelops the earth to a height of 10 miles at the 
equator and 5 miles at the poles is called the troposphere. 
This layer contains about three-fourths of the weight of 
all the atmosphere. As storms occur here there are both 
vertical and horizontal air currents. It is in this region 
that all flying is done at the present time. 

Outward from the troposphere another layer of air ex¬ 
tends for nearly 200 miles which is known as the strato¬ 
sphere. This contains only one-fourth of the air, has a 
constant temperature, only horizontal air currents, and 
probably no storm areas. The division between these two 
layers is called the tropopause. 


160 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


With these differences in mind, you can understand why 
some persons have had the idea that if the stratosphere 
could be reached, very different, and perhaps much better, 
flying conditions could be obtained. 

As a matter of fact, a new world record was established 
on May 27, 1931, when Professor Auguste Picard and Paul 
Kipfer ascended to a height of 51,775 feet in a flight be¬ 
tween Augsburg, Germany, and Glacier d’Obergurgl, 
Switzerland, in their ‘stratosphere’ balloon. 

One important thing to the pilot is visibility. If he is 
able to see vertically downward from an altitude of 5000 
feet and horizontally for a distance of 7 miles the visibility 
is reported “Good” for flying. Visibility depends upon 
the conditions of the air; namely, temperature; pressure; 
humidity; clouds — type and distribution; wind — direc¬ 
tion and velocity; and the forms that water vapor assumes 
after it has been changed from a gaseous to a liquid form 
— in other words, precipitation in the form of rain, mist, 
clouds, dew, hail, frost, or fog. 


The Winds 

It goes without saying that those who guide aircraft 
need to be thoroughly familiar with the winds. In order 
to understand some of the principles at work here, we need 
to remember that air, like any other object, has weight 
and that the weight of a given quantity of air varies with 
its temperature. As the air gets warmer, it gets also 
thinner and lighter, and expands; while as it gets colder, 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


161 


just the opposite happens: it gets heavier and tends to 
fall toward the surface of the earth. 

The winds are caused in this way by changes that take 
place in the temperature of the air over different areas of 
the land and water that make up the surface of the earth. 
Some of these winds blow steadily and for long periods 
of time over large areas of the earth’s surface; others of 
them are local and are felt only over small areas and for 
short periods of time. 

The explanation of the important big currents of air 
that flow rather steadily over large areas of the earth is 
found particularly in the effects of the sun’s rays upon 
different parts of the earth’s surface. William Ferrel, an 
American meteorologist, in 1856 made the first clear ex¬ 
planation of these important wind belts, as they are called. 

When the rays from the sun strike through the earth’s 
atmosphere upon the surface of the earth, they warm the 
earth. In a wide belt around the earth at the equator 
these rays of the sun strike directly down upon the surface 
and make the land and water decidedly warm. That 
causes the air above this land and water to expand, as it 
is warmed and becomes thinner and lighter, so that it rises 
from the surface toward the upper atmosphere. On the 
other hand, the rays from the sun that strike the land and 
water about the North Pole and the South Pole are so slant¬ 
ing that they do not warm the land and the water as they 
do near the equator. Air over the polar regions is cold 
and heavy and tends to settle down toward the surface 
of the earth. 


162 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


The general result of this condition is that at the surface 
of the earth on either side of the equator large quantities 
of air are pushing in toward the equator to fill the space 
left by the ascending warm air. These currents do not 
actually blow directly north and south toward the equator 
because the turning of the earth on its axis deflects them. 
North of the equator they blow from the northeast, and 
south of the equator they blow from the southeast. These 
important winds on either side of the equator are known 
as trade winds, because before the use of the steamships, 
trading vessels depended much upon them for making 
their way across the oceans. 

Near the equator, where the warmed air is rising toward 
the upper atmosphere, there is not much wind on the 
surface of the earth. This area of calm is known as the 
doldrums. 

The warm air that rises over the equator flows along 
from the equator toward the poles in the upper layers of 
the atmosphere above the surface trade winds. As these 
upper currents of air get about to the regions of the tropic 
of Cancer on the north and the tropic of Capricorn on the 
south, they have lost most of their warmth; so they sink 
toward the earth to join the trade winds blowing along the 
surface back toward the equator. This belt around the 
earth north of the northeast trade winds and south of the 
southeast trade winds is called the horse latitudes. 

Another important wind belt is formed in this way. On 
the surface of the earth the winds blow from the horse 
latitudes not only toward the equator but also toward the 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


163 



poles. Like the trade winds, these winds are also de¬ 
flected by the rotation of the earth, so that they flow 
northwesterly in the northern hemisphere and south¬ 
westerly in the southern hemisphere. In addition to these 
winds there are other winds not so general and steady that 
are caused by special conditions on the earth’s surface, as 
will now be explained. 

Since water heats more slowly and cools more slowly 
than land, the distribution of land and water areas in the 
heat belt affects the direction of winds. During the sum¬ 
mer months, when the water is cooler than the land, the 
wind blows from the sea; and in the winter, when the water 
is warmer, the wind blows from the land. Such seasonal 
winds are found especially on the southern coast of Asia, 
where they are called monsoons. A similar condition, but 
not so pronounced, exists along the coast of Mexico. 

Local conditions, such as bare rock, sandy areas, and 







164 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


even small buildings which radiate heat very rapidly, and 
^streams, rivers, and small bodies of water which absorb 
the heat more slowly create up currents and down cur¬ 
rents of air. Hills and mountain ranges deflect the air 
currents, which may flow up one side and down the other. 

All these facts about the winds are important to navi¬ 
gators of the air, as they are to navigators of the sea. A 
transatlantic airplane or dirigible flight, for instance, de¬ 
mands careful planning to take the best advantage of the 
winds. Again, knowledge of the effect on the wind of 
local conditions is absolutely essential for successful soar¬ 
ing in the big gliders called sailplanes. And in ordinary 
airplane trips the flyer often feels the effect on the air of 
local conditions below as his plane suddenly rises with an 
up current or drops with a down current. This latter effect 
often erroneously, is spoken of as ‘hitting an air pocket.’ 
While the air may be ‘bumpy/ especially near the surface, 
on account of these local currents of air, of course there can 
never be a pocket, or hole, in the air any more than there 
could be one in the water of the ocean. 


Water Vapor and Precipitation 

When water is changed from its liquid form into water 
vapor, a gaseous form, it is said to evaporate. Heat aids 
and hastens this process. 

The capacity of air to contain water vapor depends 
upon its temperature. The warmer it is, the more water 
vapor it will take up. On hot days one speaks of the air 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


165 


as being ‘heavy.’ What he means is that it is full of the 
light water vapor and is really light. The amount of water 
vapor the air contains is known as its absolute humidity. 

The relative humidity is the ratio between the amount 
of water vapor that air actually contains at a certain tem¬ 
perature and the amount of water vapor it could contain 
at the same temperature if it were saturated. For in¬ 
stance, if a cubic foot of air at a certain temperature con¬ 
tains five grains of water vapor but at the same tempera¬ 
ture could, if saturated, contain ten grains, the ratio of five 
to ten, or the relative humidity, would be one-half, or 
50 per cent. When the relative humidity for a given tem¬ 
perature reaches 100 per cent, it has reached the ‘dew point’ 
and if the temperature then falls, some of the water held 
suspended in the air is squeezed out, is precipitated, in the 
form of mist, rain, or snow. Thus, as hot moist surface air 
rises into cooler altitudes or is carried in winds over cooler 
areas, the water-vapor molecules condense into drops 
of rain, or if the temperature is cold enough they be¬ 
come flakes of snow. It may happen that as they fall 
earthward they pass through a layer of warm air and 
change, by evaporation, into gaseous water vapor again. 
It is quite possible for an aviator to pass through a rain¬ 
storm or a snowstorm which never reaches the earth. 


Fog and Clouds 

Mist and fog are other forms of the condensed water 
vapor. Fogs greatly handicap flying. Heavy fogs, some- 


166 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


times called advection fogs, are caused when air rising 
from warm-water areas is borne over colder land or colder 
water areas and is condensed. This happens especially 
often along the Newfoundland coast. The air over the 
warm Gulf Stream blows over the cold Labrador current 
and causes heavy fogs around Newfoundland. Sometimes 
aviators must wait several days before a rising temperature 
and a change of wind clear the fogs away. 

Clouds are also fog, but, being higher, are carried along 
with wind currents. 

It is not an uncommon sight to see some masses of clouds 
floating along in one direction, while others at a higher 
altitude are being carried along in another. 

Aviators make use of the different layers of horizontal 
currents. When flying in one direction they may benefit 
by a tail wind, and upon the return trip, by flying at a 
different altitude, they may profit by a wind current from 
another direction. 

The thunder storm, with its violent upward and down¬ 
ward vertical currents of air, its lightning, its sudden rain, 
and frequent hail, is a source of danger to the pilot. Un¬ 
der no condition should he attempt to fly up and through 
a thundercloud. The best course to adopt is to make a 
landing at once in the most suitable spot and to wait there 
until the storm passes, for a delay is better than a crash and 
certainly less expensive. 

One peculiarity of thunderstorms, of interest to a pilot, 
is the fact that they rarely cross large rivers. 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


167 


Air Pressure and Its Effect on the Weather 

Air pressure, as will be clear from what was said about 
winds, is a great factor in determining weather condi¬ 
tions. The instrument which measures the atmospheric 
pressure is the barometer. You have already read how 
the pressure of the upper regions of the atmosphere may 
be determined by installing this instrument in free balloons 
which reach great heights before bursting and letting the 
instruments return to the earth, attached to a little para¬ 
chute. 

For a long time the scientists did not understand air 
pressure. For this reason they were at a loss to know 
why, with a lift pump, water could be made to rise only 
about 32 feet in a vacuum tube. 

Galileo (1546-1642) had advanced the theory that air 
has pressure, but it was Torricelli, his pupil, who found 
that mercury, which is 13.6 times heavier than water, 
would rise in a vacuum tube about 30 inches, and that the 
air exerted a pressure of almost 15 pounds per square inch. 
This lead to the invention of the mercury barometer. 

The mercury barometer is in use today, but the aneroid 
barometer is the one used on aircraft. The aneroid con¬ 
sists of a small metal box exhausted of air. Atmos¬ 
pheric pressure causes the top of the box to rise and fall. 
Through a set of springs and levers this motion is magnified 
and transferred to the index needle on the face of the 
barometer. The barometer works much as does the oil- 
pressure gauge on an automobile, except that it is much 


168 


AIRCRAFT HEAVIER THAN AIR 


more delicate. A change 
of only 1 /200 of an inch 
on the wall of the box 
will cause the index 
needle to move three 
inches. 

The barometer meas¬ 
ures the weight, or pres¬ 
sure, of the atmosphere. 
As the pressure in¬ 
creases, there is a ‘ris¬ 
ing’ barometer; as the 
pressure decreases, there is a ‘falling’ barometer. A rap¬ 
idly falling barometer generally indicates the approach of 
a storm. 

If you look at the weather map, you will see how all 
the meteorological elements have been pictured. Those 
places where the barometer reading is the same have been 
connected with a line, and the groups of lines show the 
location of low-pressure or high-pressure areas. Another 
name for a low-pressure area is cyclone. In the center 
of this region the air is warmer and lighter than the sur¬ 
rounding air, and as it rises the heavier air rushes toward 
the center of the ‘low’ from all directions in an anti-clock¬ 
wise movement. 

In the high-pressure areas, or anti-cyclones, as they are 
called, the heavier air in the center falls downward, crowd¬ 
ing out the warmer air in all directions in a clockwise move¬ 
ment. The wind directions about the cyclone and anti- 



An Aneroid Barometer 


THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


169 


cyclone centers are reversed in the southern hemisphere, 
where the winds blow in a clockwise fashion in the cyclones 
and anti-clockwise in the anti-cyclones. 

These regions of low and high pressure, or cyclones and 
anti-cyclones, travel around the earth in a general west- 
toward-east direction and carry with them distinctive 
weather conditions that are more or less influenced by the 
topography of the country over which they pass. 

These great whirling eddies of air are the cause of all 
our changes of weather, and since they travel at a fairly 
uniform rate of speed, several hundreds of miles a day, 
it is possible by reading the weather map to determine 
quite accurately the kind of weather the advancing flow’ 
or ‘high’ will bring. 


The Service Provided by the Weather Bureau 

Records of the weather are kept from year to year. Al¬ 
though one often hears older people say that the weather 
conditions were different when they were young, by con¬ 
sulting the records one finds very little, if any, radical 
change in weather from one year to the next. 

It was not until 1891 that the entire weather service 
for the United States was centralized in the Weather 
Bureau of the Department of Agriculture, Washington, 
D. C. At this Bureau, daily weather maps are prepared. 
Over two hundred stations in this country, Canada, Mex¬ 
ico, and the West Indies cooperate in sending informa¬ 
tion to the Bureau at Washington. 

























































































































































































THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


171 


Each day at 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m., Washington time, 
trained scientists from each of these stations send reports of 
their weather conditions in code by telegraph to the central 
office at Washington. The messages giving information 
concerning pressure, temperature, rainfall, sunshine, and 
direction and force of the wind are decoded and the data 
placed upon blank maps. All places of equal pressure 
are connected by a line called an isobar. Places of equal 
temperature are joined by isotherm lines. Other symbols 
found on a weather map indicate clouds, rain, snow, and 
thunderstorms. Arrows fly with the wind, whose velocity 
is given in miles per hour, except on Navy and Marine re¬ 
ports, where the Beaufort scale is used. 

Besides the central station at Washington, there are 
other forecast centers at Chicago, New Orleans, Denver, 
and San Francisco. 

Weather reports are now sent out from central stations 
by radio to flying fields, so that a pilot anywhere may know 
what kind of weather to expect. 

No experienced flyer now takes off for any cross-country 
flying without first getting information about weather con¬ 
ditions. Very careful analysis and scientific study of 
weather charts and bulletins are made by those who are 
planning any long-distance flights. 

Three flying altitudes are registered on weather charts: 
2,500 feet, 5,000 feet, and 10,000 feet. Each is identified 
by a different color, and the condition and direction of the 
air currents in each level is recorded. 

The information is obtained by releasing an ordinary 


BEAUFORT SCALE OF WIND FORCE 













THE WEATHER AND ITS EFFECT 


173 


sounding balloon which carries nothing and which is known 
to have a definite rate of ascent. The observer on the 
ground takes sights on it with an instrument called a 
theodolite. With this instrument he is able to tell the 
force and direction of the wind at different altitudes. 
This is called taking a sounding of the upper air. Such 
soundings are taken at least daily at every Army airport, 
every Naval air station, and at those airports where 
weather bureau offices are located. By studying these 
charts the pilot can decide at what altitude it would be 
most advantageous to fly. 

Advanced methods of weather forcasting, improvement 
in the accuracy of flying instruments, and the means of 
constant communication afforded by the radio will prob¬ 
ably make flying in the future possible at all times. 














































- 






























































































































. 






























































. 


























PART IV 
MOTORLESS CRAFT 

THE PARACHUTE 
GLIDERS 



CHAPTER XV 


THE PARACHUTE * 

Perhaps you have been attracted to some public place — 
a fairground, an amusement park, or an airport — because 
one of the features of entertainment was a ‘parachute 
jump/ 

You have seen an airplane take off and have watched 
it as it circled over the field in order to gain altitude for 
the jumper to make his descent. 

Then your heart almost stopped beating as you saw 
a dark object drop from the plane and you knew that 
the jumper’s life depended upon less than one hundred 
square yards of silk, some silken cords, and his own clear 
head in manipulating this device so that it would open 
at just the proper time and he would land in an unob¬ 
structed place. 

For an instant a dead silence spread over the gazing 
spectators; then there were many exclamations of, “See, 
it is opening! ” Out above the body of the jumper floated 
a long wriggling stream of white, not unlike a huge white 
caterpillar crawling through the sky. Then the leading 
end began to bulge, and the yards of silk spread out in a 
beautiful flower-shaped form, from the stem of which 
177 


178 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


swung the figure of the jumper. The parachute had per¬ 
formed its function faithfully. Within a few seconds 
a person had safely descended from an altitude of probably 
three thousand feet. 

But the main use for the parachute is not for exhibi¬ 
tion purposes. It is a veritable ‘life preserver of the air.’ 

Early Experiments 

The idea of parachutes was born in the minds of men 
centuries ago. The Chinese are credited with being its 
inventors far back in the age of broadswords and armored 
suits. 

Then you have read how Leonardo da Vinci experi¬ 
mented with them in the fifteenth century. Toward the 
end of the eighteenth century and especially after bal¬ 
looning became a craze in the nineteenth century, para¬ 
chute jumping furnished a new way of satisfying the de¬ 
mand of the public for thrills. Parachute jumpers swung 
from balloons in spectacular style; they jumped into 
clouds of smoke; they hid the chute in a pack to make be¬ 
lieve they were falling without one; they frantically pulled 
on the cords to deceive the spectators into thinking some¬ 
thing was wrong; or they fell an amazing distance before 
they landed. 

After such spectacular exhibitions it seems strange that 
it was not until the last six months of the World War that 
parachutes were employed to lessen the death toll of war 
pilots and that the practice of adding this safety device 


THE PARACHUTE 179 

to a pilot’s equipment was employed only by the Ger¬ 
mans even then. 

A story is told of a French pilot who on a reconnoitering 
flight sighted a German Fokker plane. A stream of bul¬ 
lets was sent toward the German plane. A burst of flame 
from the petrol tank enveloped the Fokker. Just as it 
shivered downward in a fatal spin, the figure of the Ger¬ 
man pilot plunged outward into space as though he pre¬ 
ferred to meet his death outside the burning plane. To 
the amazement of the Frenchman the German’s descent 
was suddenly halted as a parachute opened, and the Ger¬ 
man made a safe landing in the fields below. 

The French also had experimented with parachutes, 
but with meager success. It was in America, after the 
war, that the Tree’ parachute was finally perfected and 
then not until after brave men had sacrificed their lives 
in the testing of different types. 


Modern Types of Parachute 

It was due to the diligent service of Leslie Irwin, a 
member of the Army Air Corps, that the present types owe 
their principal features of design. 

Records show that no Irwin parachute has ever failed 
to open if the jumper was at an altitude of at least 150 
feet, if he was free from obstructions, and if he had not 
failed to pull the rip cord to release the chute. 

Other standard types are the Russell Lobe, the Floyd 
Smith, the Swatlik and the triangular parachute. 



Quick-Connection Air Chute Form-Fitting Back Pack Seat 

Showing Chest Pack 






























THE PARACHUTE 181 

Parachutes are made in three sizes — 28 feet in diameter 
when open, 24 feet, and 22 feet. 

The largest one is used for exhibition and for training 
purposes. Under ordinary circumstances its average rate 
of descent is 12 feet per second. 

The 22-foot chute, carried on the chest, is used as an 
auxiliary to the large one in government training equip¬ 
ment for aviators. 

The 24-foot chute is the standard for general service. 
Its weight, complete with harness, is approximately 18 
pounds and the average rate of descent is 16 feet per 
second. 

A specially woven linen-webbing harness attaches the 
parachute to the wearer and may be adjusted to fit him 
perfectly and comfortably. 

In the Irwin parachute an important feature is the 
‘pilot chute.’ This diminutive chute is only about 30 
inches in diameter. It is put into the case after the main 
chute has been packed. Elastic bands pass around the 
pack and are hooked to a flap. The flap is fastened in 
place with the pins on the ends of the rip cord. When 
this cord is pulled, it releases the flap, which is pulled open 
by the elastic bands. Out springs the little ‘pilot chute,’ 
which opens up like an umbrella, dragging out the main 
parachute. It only takes about 1% seconds from the time 
the rip cord is pulled before the whole parachute is filled 
with air. 

The chute is attached to the harness on the wearer by 
twenty-four lines. As the chute opens, the wearer feels 


A Russell Lobe Parachute in the Air 















THE PARACHUTE 


183 


a sudden jerk, but it generally affords only a happy sensa¬ 
tion, for he knows that the parachute has opened and that 
a safe descent is certain. An experienced jumper can 
handle the ropes so that he spills out some of the air and 
gives direction to the parachute; this is called ‘slipping’ 
the parachute. 

In the service parachute certain standards in quality and 
strength are met. The harness has a tensile strength of 
3000; that is, it will withstand a pull of that many pounds. 
The buckles and snaps are made of chrome-nickel steel, 
zinc or cadmium plated and subjected to a 2500-pound 
test. The canopy is made of Japanese habutai silk. This 
fabric has been chosen because it withstands the great im¬ 
pact of wind pressure when the chute opens so quickly. 
The twenty-four suspension lines are made of silk cord 
neither knotted nor spliced. Each has tensile strength 
of 400 pounds. They are continuous from one side of 
the harness, up over the canopy, and down to the other 
side. The rip cord is a flexible cable with pins on one end 
and a handle on the other. It takes only a pull of ten 
pounds on the handle to detach the pins that release the 
pilot chute. 


Tests and Experiments 

Parachutes must now be approved by the Aeronautics 
Branch of the Department of Commerce. They must be 
packed by a licensed packer and subjected to severe tests. 


184 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 



Testing a Parachute 

A wind tunnel motor being used in parachute instruction at the 
Boeing School of Aeronautics, Oakland Municipal Airport, Oak¬ 
land, California. 

They must open in every one of twenty-five trial drops 
with a 200-pound dummy. 

It is a fascinating sight to watch these tests. The air 
seems literally filled with these great white blossoms as 
one after another is released from the whirring planes 
above. Sometimes after landing, the wind drags the 
dummy over the ground for some distance, or until some 
one can grab the cords and spill the air. 

Many lives have been saved by the use of the parachute. 
Engines have gone wrong in mid-air, tail surfaces have 
parted company with the fuselage, or wings have been 
unable to withstand sudden shock of air pressure in air 





THE PARACHUTE 


185 


maneuvers. It is then that the aviator is either forced 
out of the plane or deliberately makes a jump. The thing 
he has to remember is to be sure that he is far enough from 
the plane to be free from any of its parts before he pulls 
the rip cord. Then he must remember to give the cord 
a good pull. Some sad instances are on record in which a 
person through fright failed to do this. On landing, 
the feet should be kept close together and the landing 
taken much as an athlete lands in the pit after a pole 
vault. 

Persons who have made descents to earth in parachutes 
have been asked to give their impressions of their down¬ 
ward trips. They say that the most exciting and breath¬ 
taking moment is just before they land, when the earth 
seems literally to jump up to meet them. 

In order that the radio public might listen in, an air¬ 
plane carrying a parachute jumper installed a broadcast¬ 
ing set. A spool of wire, attached to a microphone and 
fastened to the mouth of the jumper, unwound as he made 
his descent. It didn’t take long for him to broadcast his 
speech. 

Colonel Lindbergh has used the parachute on four dif¬ 
ferent occasions to save his life. 

There is a club called the 'Caterpillar Club’ to which 
admittance is gained only when a person has used the 
parachute to save his or her life. The club received its 
name because the silk is made by that little animal, the 
caterpillar. 

Experiments are being made with parachutes large 


186 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


enough to land a plane. In one test a giant parachute 
brought a plane and pilot safely to earth from an altitude 
of 2500 feet. Perhaps these planechutes may some day 
become common equipment for all aircraft. 


CHAPTER XVI 


GLIDERS 

Have you ever watched a sea gull or a hawk as it floated 
along in the air and with only an occasional flap of its 
wings kept the same altitude or seemed even to soar higher 
and higher? Men throughout the ages have watched the 
flight of birds and have longed to^be able to sail, as they 
do, through the air. You have read the interesting stories 
of the attempts to get into the air that men have made 
during the past centuries. 

Pioneers in the Art of Gliding 

There is a story of a Chinese general who, in 200 b.c., 
used kites to elevate a man so that he could look down 
and observe the movements of his opponent’s army. 

You have read about the great painter, sculptor, and 
architect, Leonardo da Vinci, who, in the sixteenth cen¬ 
tury, created the design for a man-carrying glider. Al¬ 
though he died before he ever built and experimented with 
his craft, his writings show that he had thought out many 
of the fundamental principles of flight. 

Otto Lilienthal of Germany became one of the outstand¬ 
ing pioneers in gliding, between the years 1890 and 1896. 

187 


188 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


He made many successful flights with gliders, covering 
distances as great as one thousand feet from the point of 
take-off. 

Before Lilienthal’s experiments, a certain French sailor, 
Captain Le Bris, made some remarkable flights in a boat¬ 
like glider with wings shaped like those of an albatross, 
but his flying was done more by natural instinct than by 
any scientific skill; so he made no substantial contribution 
to the science of flight. 

Another Frenchman, Henri Farman, who, like the 
Wright brothers, was interested in bicycle racing, became 
an aviator of some note. He established a school of avi¬ 
ation in 1908. His early experiments on gliders finally 
led him into the airplane business, so that he and his 
brother were able to supply planes to different countries 
during the World War. 

Octave Chanute, J. J. Montgomery, A. M. Herring, and 
later the Wright brothers were early Americans, as you 
know, who became interested in glider construction, but 
the development of power planes in America diverted 
attention from the glider until 1922, when a glider club 
was formed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 
One of the members of the club that year, Mr. E. T. Allen, 
became qualified to take part in the Rhoen glider and 
soaring-plane contest which is held every year in Ger¬ 
many. 

Germany’s Leadership in Glider Flying- 

German glider enthusiasts have been interested in the 
development of gliders since the days of Lilienthal. In 


GLIDERS 


189 


1909, during the International Airship Exposition at 
Frankfurt-am-Main, there was a German glider competi¬ 
tion. 

Even during the World War, gliding experiments were 
made from time to time; and after the War, when Ger¬ 
many was restrained by the Treaty of Versailles from 
building high-powered planes, her pilots and designers 
turned their attention to the development of high-type 
gliders and soaring planes. The development of the move¬ 
ment which has placed Germany in the lead in this fasci¬ 
nating method of flight may be said to have started in 
1920 with the Rhoen soaring-flight race on the Wasser- 
kuppe Mountain in Germany. There were only ten ma¬ 
chines competing, of as many different makes and all more 
or less poorly constructed. 

The following year, 1921, a new glider, which had es¬ 
tablished three new world records in endurance and speed, 
made its appearance. It was designed by a Mr. Martens 
and a Mr. Hensen of the. Hanover University group. In 
the meet in 1922 there were approximately forty gliders 
on the Wasserkuppe, all of which quite closely resembled 
the Hanover type of glider. Heretofore, flights had been 
comparatively brief in duration, but at this competition 
the time in the air was extended into hours. 

Soaring-flight schools were started in Germany. A 
very successful one, established in 1924 by Mr. Martens, 
was eventually taken over by the Rhoen — Rossitten Com¬ 
pany. 

This company has the character of a public utility and 
is an important institution for the promotion of the Ger- 


190 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


man soaring-flight movement. It supervises glider 
schools and arranges competitions. It fosters clubs and 
for a small fee supplies designs and materials for glider 
construction. 

National contests are held in August at the Rhoen Was- 
serkuppe in southwestern Germany and at Rossitten in 
northeastern Germany. 

German glider pilots have made some notable records 
which have been a challenge to pilots throughout Europe 
and America. 

At the meet on the Wasserkuppe in August, 1930, Robert 
Kronfeld, an Austrian, defeated thirty-three other glider 
pilots by a 39-mile circuit flight, thereby winning one 
thousand marks (about $240). His flight carried him 
across difficult country to a neighboring mountain, over 
which none of his competitors was able to soar. 

The day after he won the prize, he took his glider aloft 
again and Rooked on’ to a thundercloud. Taking advan¬ 
tage of the strong currents which always exist in such 
clouds, he was carried 94 miles, bettering his record of the 
previous day. 


Glider Flying in America 

It was in 1928 that interest in glider flying was again 
revived in America when three German glider pilots came 
to this country, one of whom, Peter Hesselbach, established 
a duration record of more than four hours, breaking the 
Wright record of 1911. It was through their experiments 


GLIDERS 


191 



that the flying field at Cape Cod was found and tested. 
This field has become the base for the location of a school 
for teaching glider flying. 

Williams Hawley Bowlus, who has been flying gliders 
since 1910 and building them since 1914, became renowned 
when he flew a sailplane which he had built for over nine 
hours and broke the record that Hesselbach had established 
at Cape Cod. 

Then there appeared on the front of every newspaper 
the announcement that Colonel Lindbergh had become 
a glider enthusiast and that his wife, Anne Lindbergh, had 
also remained aloft long enough to qualify as a glider 
pilot. 


Bowlus-Hirth Glider School 


Mr. Hawley Bowlus with a Wing Section of One of 
His Gliders 







192 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


A glider launched from the Los Angeles created atten¬ 
tion. Then Captain Hawks attached his monoplane 
glider, Eaglet , which is now in the Smithsonian Institu¬ 
tion beside other historical aircraft, to an airplane and was 
towed across the continent. Every city and community 
en route became 'glider-minded/ 

It seemed that every one wanted to glide. Member¬ 
ships in college glider clubs increased. Regular flying 
clubs forgot their powered planes and set to work con¬ 
structing gliders. Boys and girls who had built elaborate 
airplane models assembled their odd bits of balsa wood 
and Japanese tissue into dainty little models which sailed 
through the air, with a double-headed tack attached to 
the fuselage to keep the nose down. Then the high- 
school students began the construction of real gliders under 
the supervision of their shop teachers. School authori¬ 
ties and parents realized that this was a safe means of 
letting boys and girls in their teens have an outlet for 
their heretofore suppressed desire to get into the air. 

But motorless aviation is not confined to high-school 
students or to college youths. It has caught the imagina¬ 
tion of men and women in every part of the country, who 
have formed glider clubs either independently or fostered 
by Chambers of Commerce, newspapers, country clubs, 
or industrial organizations. Besides offering a training 
valuable for flying engine-driven aircraft, gliding affords 
great entertainment and excellent sport. When used for 
sport, however, gliders should be flown only when the 
weather is suitable. If you are planning a pleasure trip 


GLIDERS 


193 


in your automobile, you wait for pleasant weather; you 
should do so when you fly your glider. 


Some Principles of Glider Flying 

Properly conducted there is a minimum risk and a 
minimum cost to gliding. A beginner is not disturbed by 
speed and by the roar, vibration, and fumes of a motor. 
There is no fuel tank and consequently no fire hazard. 
Instead of coming in contact with the ground at express- 
train speed as in an airplane, a glider drifts down into the 
wind at a rate of only a few miles an hour and lands as 
lightly as a bird. 

The glider is not a toy, however. It commands a good 
deal of respect, as many a licensed pilot is ready to admit 
after his first real flight in one, for no matter how long 
one has flown an airplane, he is advised to start at the 
beginning in learning to fly a glider. 

Since in gliding one makes use of the air currents to 
keep the glider in the air, one must understand how air 
currents are affected by the topography of the country, 
or, in other words, by the mountains, hills, valleys, rivers, 
and plains. 

In the chapter on meteorology you noted that currents 
of air flow upward over the side of a hill or mountain and 
perhaps downward on the other side. You also read 
that air is unequally heated over land and water areas, 
so that the cool heavier air over water flows downward to 
push up the warm lighter air over land areas. You were 




Colonel Lindbergh Looks It Over 


And Takes a Flight 





GLIDERS 


195 


also told that even buildings, clumps of trees, and rail¬ 
road tracks affect the air currents above them. 

The glider pilot must make note of all these things so 
that he may take advantage of the up currents to gain 
altitude and be able to manage his craft by nosing down 
as he glides through a down current. 

One of the important factors in gliding is the selection 
of the field. You recall that the Wright brothers wrote 
to the Weather Bureau at Washington for information 
about a suitable location for their experiments and were 
advised to try Kitty Hawk in North Carolina. In gen¬ 
eral, there should be some low elevation, as a hill, em¬ 
bankment, or sand dune. Gliding should not be under¬ 
taken from house tops, precipices, quarries, or the like. 
The flying field should be free from obstacles within 
the gliding range. Walls, trees, high bushes, telegraph 
wires, or high tension wires must not be within the flying 
area. 

Certain principles must be carried out in the construc¬ 
tion of gliders, and certain rules followed in flying them. 
A glider is acted upon by the same forces that act on an 
airplane, except that it has no motor to give it forward mo¬ 
tion, or thrust. The reason that a glider does not fall down¬ 
ward in a straight vertical line, but takes an inclined 
path, is that there is a lifting force to the wings just as 
there is to the wings of an airplane. 

The amount of opening between a horizontal line and 
the line representing the path of the glider is called the 
gliding angle, or the angle of glide . Some gliders are con- 


196 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


structed so that they need a small gliding angle, and some 
are constructed so that they need a large gliding angle, to 
make a safe descent. The angle that a glider must take 
for a safe descent is determined by the relation of the 


Angle of Glide. 


a ^ 

1 ——- - 

Angle of Glide 

Glider with ^ = 20 

Angle of (Glide 



’ 


Glider with L = 4. Glider with % =10 


Gliders with Differing Angles of Glide 

Note that the larger the^, the smaller the angle of glide and the 
longer the glide. 

lifting power of the wings and the resistance the glider 
feels as it passes through the air. When the lifting power 
of the wings has been carefully figured by mathematical 
rules, it is divided by the air resistance, or drag, which has 
also been figured by mathematical rules. 

This division is represented by L (for lift) over D (for 
drag), or L/D. If the lift is great and the drag small, 
the ratio of L/D is large. When the L/D is large, the 
glider will not need to be nosed down so much — it will 
have a small gliding angle. If the L/D is small, the 
glider will need a larger gliding angle and its path will 
need to be steeper. 

The three types of gliders might be classed on the basis 
of their L/D ratio. Those with an L/D of less than 10 
fall into the primary training type, those of 10 to 15 into 







GLIDERS 


197 


the secondary type, while soaring planes, sometimes called 
soarers, or sailplanes, may have an L/D of over 15. 

It is plain to see that when the angle of glide is small, 
the glider will be able to cover, in a normal glide, a long 
distance before landing. In the soarers, which are finely 
constructed and extremely light in weight, the craft can 
sail along covering 20 feet in a horizontal line to every 
foot they lose in altitude. In the secondary-type glider 
the gliding angle is larger, and the glider covers about 12 
feet horizontally for every foot it loses in altitude, while 
in the primary type the gliding angle is about 8 to 1, or 8 
feet covered horizontally for every foot lost in altitude. 
Birds have a very small gliding angle. A condor, starting 
from an altitude of 2000 feet could glide for 100 miles 
without flapping his wings. 

Because so many engineering problems must be solved 
in the construction of gliders in order to make them air¬ 
worthy and safe, it is always wise for individuals or clubs 
that are planning to build one to use plans which have 
met the approval of the Department of Commerce. 


Training for Glider Flying 

If you entered a school as a glider student, you would 
begin your training on a primary glider. The control 
stick would be tied a little forward from neutral, so that 
the elevators would be held down, keeping the glider from 
nosing up and rising from the ground. While the glider 
was stationary, you would be instructed in the operation 
of the controls. Then as you were pulled along the 


198 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


ground, you would try to keep the glider level and straight. 
If you did well at this, the rope attached to the control 
stick would be changed enough to permit the glider to 
rise off the ground. Then as the glider was launched, 
you would become quite excited as you felt yourself in 
the air. It might seem to you that you were rather high, 
but you would only be about three feet off the ground 
and your first flight would cover only a distance of about 
seventy-five feet. The next step would be to take the 
rope on the control stick off altogether. 

After you have shown that you can fly smoothly along 
level ground and make fairly good landings, you will begin 
your glides from a small hill with a gradual incline free 
from any obstructions. After you have mastered straight 
flying, you will practice making turns. After fifteen or 
twenty advanced hops in the primary glider, you should 
be able to take off in a 15-mile wind from an altitude of 
about 70 feet and fly for 30 seconds over a distance of 
2000 feet. 

The secondary glider is for those who have been taught 
on the primary glider. This glider is similar to the pri¬ 
mary one, but it has a better gliding angle, is of lighter 
construction, and will not stand the abuse that the primary 
glider often has to stand during the training periods. 

Then comes the soaring plane for advanced flight with 
an expert pilot. This is the type used in the record- 
breaking attempts for duration and altitude. They are 
beautifully streamlined and appear like huge birds with 
far-flung, slender wings. 


GLIDERS 


199 


Methods of Launching a Glider 

The question arises as to how the glider is got into the 
air. Since a glider has no motor to pull it into the air, it 
must be launched. The launching of gliders from a slight 
elevation by the ‘elastic-cord’ method is the most ele¬ 
mentary way and is considered by some to be a most satis¬ 
factory method for beginners. This is the method that 
is used in Germany, where they have had only three or 
four major accidents in ten years of glider training. To 
launch a glider by this method requires the services of 
several persons. To the nose of the glider, the center of 
a long cord is attached. Not fewer than three persons 
take each end of the cord and stretch it out in the shape 
of a V, the apex of the V being attached to the nose of the 
glider. The rear of the glider is held down by man power, 
or it may be tied to a post in the ground with a snubbing 
device from which it can be quickly released. As the men 
in front walk away from the glider, stretching out each 
end of the elastic cord, the person in charge of the flight 
says “Run!” and the men run forward. The rear of the 
glider is then released, the glider is shot into the air over 
the heads of the men, and the glider flight is begun. 

The ‘sling-shot’ method is one in which the elastic cord 
in front is made fast and the glider is pulled back and 
suddenly released, so that it shoots out as your pebble flies 
out of a sling shot. 

A common method in some schools is one in which an 
automobile is used to tow the glider. At first, the speed 



‘Elastic Cord’ Method of Launching a Glider 






































GLIDERS 


201 


of the automobile is just enough to keep the glider not 
more than three to six feet above the ground. Then the 
automobile slows down to give the student practice in 
landing. When the student gets the feel of flying and 
landing and gets more efficient at the controls, the speed 
of the automobile is increased, so that he gains more alti¬ 
tude, and by degrees he can make a longer and longer 
glide. Great care must be observed in towing a glider, 
and the automobile driver should be some one who has 
had experience, for he bears much the same relation¬ 
ship to the glider student that the airplane instructor does 
to the student pilot. In some types of gliders the fuselage 
is built large enough and strong enough to accommodate 
both the instructor and student. Towing gliders from 
an airplane without special permission has been forbid¬ 
den by the Department of Commerce. 


Regulations Governing Glider Flying 

Without competent supervision in building gliders and 
without proper instruction in flying them, gliding may 
become exceedingly dangerous. This has been recog¬ 
nized by the Department of Commerce, and new federal 
rules and regulations pertaining to the construction, 
maintenance, and operation of gliders, have been made.* 

There are three classes of gliders which are considered 

* Bulletin on Gliders and Gliding may be obtained free of charge by 
writing to United States Department of Commerce, Aeronautics Division, 
Washington, D. C. 


I 


202 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 



Bowlus-Hirth Glider School 


A Glider Launched for Its Powerless Flight 

eligible for license upon passing an inspection by the De¬ 
partment of Commerce. The first are gliders which have 
been manufactured under approved-type certificates or 
those built according to specifications and designs which 
have been approved by the Department of Commerce. 
The gliders of the second class are those not manufactured 
under the approved-type certificates, but which meet the 
requirements of such a certificate. The third class in¬ 
cludes gliders manufactured prior to October 1, 1930, 
which have passed a visual inspection by the Department 
of Commerce as to “design, materials,, workmanship, and 
flight characteristics.” The last-named class includes 
gliders built by individuals or clubs with or without previ- 




GLIDERS 


203 


ously approved designs, but which have been inspected 
and approved by the Department of Commerce. How¬ 
ever, gliders so constructed after October 1, 1930, “will 
not be considered eligible for license.” 

The Department of Commerce has also provided for the 
following types of glider-pilot licenses: the student, the 
non-commercial, and the commercial. 

The student permit gives the student the privilege of 
receiving instruction and of making solo flights with 
licensed gliders while under the instruction of a licensed 
glider pilot. No physical or written examination will 
be required. 

The non-commercial license is for those persons who 
wish to operate a glider “only for sport and pleasure.” 
To earn such a license, one must pass a flight test con¬ 
sisting of “a minimum of three flights, including moderate 
banks in either direction.” 

The applicant for a commercial glider-pilot license must 
pass the same examination as the one given for a private 
airplane-pilot license. There are no written examinations, 
but “in addition to normal take-offs and landings,” he must 
include “a series of general and moderate banks, 360° 
turns and precision landings.” Any holder of an air¬ 
plane license who can satisfactorily complete the glider 
tests may receive a glider-pilot license. 

It is a strange fact that most of the accidents in gliders 
have happened when they were being flown by airplane 
pilots. It seems that these pilots are often overconfident 
of their ability or overestimate the performance of which 


204 


MOTORLESS CRAFT 


a glider is capable. The best advice is to learn from the 
ground up. Captain Hawks took this advice. He started 
out to fly a glider as though he were a novice and has be¬ 
come a very successful glider pilot. 


Present Interest in Gliding 

Scattered from coast to coast throughout the United 
States are hundreds of glider clubs, and other countries 
are becoming more and more enthusiastic over the possi¬ 
bilities of glider flying as an aid to aviation. Through¬ 
out Europe the German types of gliders and methods of 
flying are used mostly. Gliding is receiving attention in 
Italy, Belgium, Poland, Russia, England, and Australia. 
In Canada there is wide interest in gliding as a sport. 

The first national soaring contest in America was held 
September 21 to October 4, 1930, at Elmira, New York. 
Of the fourteen machines entered in the contest only four 
were of the soaring, or sailplane, type, and two of these 
were made in Germany. The others were the so-called 
‘secondary type’ of glider. Quite remarkable were the 
results of this contest. There were flights of 7 hours’ 
duration and altitudes of 1500 feet were reached. Land¬ 
ings were made within a few inches of the take-off mark, 
but the most interesting spectacle was that of a pilot reach¬ 
ing for the sandwich suspended from the end of a fish pole 
held out to him by a pilot in another glider. 

Even the birds showed their interest in the graceful 
soaring planes with their long slender wings through 


GLIDERS 


205 


which the light shone with lace-like effect. They must 
have imagined them to be some sort of huge kin with 
whom they would like to become better acquainted, for 
they flew around not in the least afraid! 

The German pilots were enthusiastic over the air con¬ 
ditions found at Elmira, and named it The Wasserkuppe 
of America.’ 

A glider is sometimes fitted out with a small engine 
and propeller and called a power glider. It is difficult to 
draw any sharp distinction between such a glider and a 
light airplane. A sixteen-year-old schoolboy from Long 
Island reached an altitude of 11,800 feet in a glider pow¬ 
ered with a two-cylinder engine. On account of its lower 
cost and upkeep the power glider may become a popular 
type of aircraft. 

Colonel Lindbergh’s interest in gliding has increased 
the popularity of gliding. He says that, “It places flying 
within the reach of the great majority of people who 
never expect to become professional aviators and cannot 
afford the time and money required to learn to fly and 
operate a power plane of the present-day type.” 




PART V 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 

SOME AIR-TRAFFIC RULES 
EARNING A PILOT’S LICENSE 
AN AIR FLIGHT 
MANEUVERS 







CHAPTER XVII 


SOME AIR-TRAFFIC RULES 

In 1926 an Air Commerce Act was passed by Congress. 
It is the foundation upon which the Department of Com¬ 
merce bases its Air Commerce Regulations.* These regu¬ 
lations come under eight heads: namely, licensing of 
aircraft, inspection of aircraft, operation of aircraft, 
marking of licensed and unlicensed aircraft, licensing of 
pilots, licensing of mechanics, air-traffic rules, and miscel¬ 
laneous. 

These may be supplemented by additional rules and 
regulations to meet such needs as arise in the rapid devel¬ 
opment of aeronautics. For instance, when gliders be¬ 
came so popular, the department forestalled danger by 
making new rules which would apply specifically to this 
type of aircraft and to this method of flying. 

Identification 

All aircraft must have some mark of identification. 
When you see a large Roman ‘S’ on aircraft, you may know 
it is used solely for governmental purposes and belongs 
to states, territories, possessions, or political subdivisions 

* Copies of air-traffic regulations in full may be obtained free of charge 
upon request to Aeronautics Branch, Department of Commerce, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 


209 


210 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


of the government. There will also appear numerals and 
perhaps a symbol representing some particular depart¬ 
ment. On all other licensed aircraft you will see a large 
Roman ‘C’ followed by numerals. This means that it 
was built according to design that had been approved by 
the department and that it has been tested and found air¬ 
worthy. The letter ‘N’ must precede the license symbol 
and numerals on licensed aircraft if it is engaged in foreign 
air commerce. 

Aircraft which is unlicensed must always bear some 
mark of identification assigned by the Secretary of Com¬ 
merce, but this alone is no guarantee of its airworthiness. 
Except with the approval of the Secretary of Commerce, 
“no design, mark, character, symbol or description” which 
“modifies, adds to or subtracts from, or confuses the as¬ 
signed mark or destroys its visibility” shall be placed upon 
aircraft. 


Inspection 

Within twenty-four hours preceding each flight the air¬ 
craft must be given a line inspection by a licensed airman. 
After each 100 hours’ flight it must be given a “periodic 
inspection” by a licensed mechanic. Then after 300 to 
350 hours, the motor plant is removed and completely 
overhauled. All minor repair work on damaged air¬ 
craft must be inspected and approved by a licensed me¬ 
chanic, but if the aircraft was seriously damaged, all 
repairs must be approved by a Department of Commerce 
inspector before it is flown again with passengers for hire. 


SOME AIR-TRAFFIC RULES 
Lighting 


211 


The matter of lights on aircraft is becoming increas¬ 
ingly important, and rules have been made in regard to 
them. Between one-half hour after sunset and one-half 
hour before sunrise, all airplanes in flight must show a 


J 


L 





\_ WHITET*. 

/‘tO 0 


Airplane Lights 

Airplanes in flight at night must show red, green, and white 
lights, each showing unbroken light as indicated. 

green light on the right side, a red light on the left side, 
and a white one in the rear. These lights must be set 
according to specific rules and those on the sides must be 
visible for two miles, while the one in the rear must be 
visible for three miles. A special regulation governs color 
and arrangement of lights on balloons and airships. In 
addition to the rules governing navigation lights, aircraft 
carrying passengers for hire must have additional electric 
landing lights. 











212 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


Some Flying and Landing Rules 

It might seem that there would be plenty of room in 
the air to maneuver aircraft, or that they were not numer¬ 
ous enough to require special attention to traffic rules, but 
accidents occur from time to time which could have been 
avoided had rules been properly observed. 

If you were riding in an airship and a balloon appeared, 
according to traffic rules your pilot would have to give it 
right of way, but if you were riding in an airplane, your 
pilot would have to give way to either a balloon or an 
airship. 

In taking oh or in landing, a pilot, whenever it is pos¬ 
sible, heads his aircraft into the wind. 

When in flight, aircraft must keep to the right in passing 
each other and must maintain a distance apart of at least 
300 feet. In flying over cities, towns, or settlements, the 
pilot must maintain an altitude of at least 1000 feet. Over 
open country and when carrying passengers for hire, he 
must at all times maintain an altitude of at least 500 feet. 
If weather conditions prevent this, he must effect a land¬ 
ing at once either by returning to his point of last depar¬ 
ture or by going to the nearest landing field or any other 
area where he can make a suitable emergency landing. 

By special permission of the Department of Commerce 
a pilot may deviate from the traffic rules. One illustra¬ 
tion is the flying of an industrial pilot at low altitudes over 
agricultural areas, distributing dust to kill injurious in¬ 
sects. 


SOME AIR-TRAFFIC RULES 


213 


Air Acrobatics 

Special rules apply to intentional maneuvers not neces¬ 
sary to air navigation, so-called ‘air acrobatics.' All per¬ 
sons in planes performing acrobatics must wear parachutes 
whose type and design has been approved by a govern¬ 
ment official, but a pilot is prohibited from stunting any 
aircraft in which there are paid passengers. No acrobatics 
may be performed over or within 1000 feet horizontally 
of any airport, or over any congested area of any city, 
town, settlement, or below 2000 feet over any established 
civil airway. Over other areas the acrobatic maneuver 
must be concluded at a height greater than 1500 feet. 


Aviation and the Law 

To help in making the skyways safe, the government 
maintains a corps of trained inspectors. They are the 
cream of the nation's flyers, combining flying skill, experi¬ 
ence, and engineering qualifications. These aeronautical 
experts inspect aircraft, examine pilots and mechanics, 
rate flying schools, investigate accidents, and report vio¬ 
lations of air traffic. State legislatures have enacted laws 
pertaining to aviation within their boundaries. In De¬ 
cember, 1930, Mr. Robert Lamont, Secretary of Com¬ 
merce, invited the governors of the states or their repre¬ 
sentatives to a meeting in Washington, D. C., to discuss 
plans for unifying federal, state, and municipal laws 
for aviation. Persons connected with the aircraft in- 


214 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


dustry and with various business organizations, as well 
as some who were especially interested in the problem, 
were also invited to attend. 

Great precaution is taken in the settlement of all cases 
pertaining to aeronautics. It is said that at present all 
the laws on aviation could be printed in two volumes. 
Since 85 per cent of all law is based upon custom and prece¬ 
dent rather than on statutes that are made by legislative 
bodies, it is easy to see that the terms of settlement in some 
particular case may be the basis upon which all subse¬ 
quent cases of similar nature are settled. This is par¬ 
ticularly true in the settlement of cases where different 
nations are involved. As aircraft travel becomes more 
extensive between the United States and other countries, 
circumstances will arise which will need a new interpre¬ 
tation of existing laws or an entirely new set of inter¬ 
national laws. Development of commercial aviation will 
demand uniform flying regulations observed by all na¬ 
tions. 

Aeronautical law is in the making. It would be a most 
interesting research problem for the boy or girl who has 
a flair for legal matters or for those interested in law as a 
profession to watch the daily papers and to note the set¬ 
tlement and terms made in all cases pertaining to any 
phase of aeronautics. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


EARNING A PILOT’S LICENSE 

Perhaps you have just taken your first airplane ride or 
your friend has just received a pilot’s license. You may 
have been thrilled by some new air feat, or perhaps you 
may be looking upward at the bird-like object high above 
with its whirring motor, when your enthusiasm for avia¬ 
tion suddenly transforms itself into the idea that you, too, 
will learn to fly. 

If you are young and can receive your parent’s consent 
and financial support, you are favored indeed. There are 
many young people today who have earned their private 
pilot’s licenses at sixteen, the minimum age requirement 
of the Department of Commerce for such licenses. 

Boys eighteen years old have flown across the continent, 
and a girl in Omaha, Nebraska, had more than two hun¬ 
dred hours in the air before she became sixteen years old 
and eligible for a pilot’s license. 


The Medical Examination 

Every one who decides to fly must pass a medical ex¬ 
amination. The tests given to applicants for the gov- 
215 


216 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


ernment schools are very rigid, since a military pilot must 
learn to fly under all conditions and must be able to per¬ 
form all sorts of acrobatics. He is trained so that he can 
maneuver his aircraft in all possible war-time combative 
emergencies. But the examinations for the civilian and 
the commercial pilot are not so exacting. They are given 
by physicians appointed by the Department of Commerce. 

It is an anxious moment when you await your turn in 
the doctor’s office. You wonder if perchance you may 
have some ailment unknown to yourself which will pre¬ 
vent you from passing the test. Your heart seems to be 
beating at an unusual rate of speed this morning. Prob¬ 
ably it is due to suspense — you will find out soon, how¬ 
ever. The nurse appears, and you are ushered into an 
office where there are some queer-looking pieces of ap¬ 
paratus. 

You are seated, and the eye test, one of the most im¬ 
portant tests, is given. One part is similar to the one you 
took when you were in school. Then the leaves of a book 
are turned, and you tell the numbers that appear on a 
page thickly covered with all sorts of colored dots and 
dashes. This is to see whether you can distinguish colors 
quickly and whether you are color blind. You look 
straight ahead while the nurse, holding up fingers at one 
side and the other for you to count, tests your ‘perimeter’ 
of vision. Then you look at an object far away and at 
one near by to test the ability of the eyes to change their 
focus rapidly. 

Now you are given two strings which lead across the 


EARNING A PILOT’S LICENSE 


217 


room to a little movable post on an oblong platform on 
which there is a similar stationary post. You can see only 
the top of the posts, but you pull the strings to bring the 
movable post forward or backward so that it appears to 
you to be exactly beside the stationary one. On three 
trials your average error should not be more than 1 3/16 
inches. This tests your ‘depth perception’ and your 
judgment of distances. 

You listen to the tick of a watch as a test for hearing. 

Some other tests follow, but at the conclusion the nurse 
assures you that you are normal or above the average; 
so when you stand before the doctor for the physical ex¬ 
amination you are quite yourself. 

He finds your heart regular and your other organs in 
good condition. A test proves that your blood pressure 
is normal for your age. You have to stand a certain 
number of seconds first on one leg then on the other with 
your eyes closed, to test your sense of balance. You feel 
rather wobbly, but your performance must have been 
satisfactory, for he nods his approval as you open your 
eyes. You sit and cross your legs and he gives a little 
whack just below ohe of your knees. Up flies your foot, 
and he assures you that your reflexes are all right. 
Probably the physician has been testing your ‘temper¬ 
ament’ by the answers you have given to apparently 
random questions. Finally he fills out a paper which 
states that you are eligible, from a medical standpoint, to 
enroll as a student flyer. You pay the fee and leave the 
office. 


218 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


Selecting a Flying School 

Now you select a flying school. Time was when the 
would-be flyer must either join the Army or the Navy to 
receive aeronautical education, or else risk his life in some 
worn-out plane while receiving instructions from a pilot 
whose qualifications rested upon his barnstorming experi¬ 
ences. Now flying schools are approved and rated by the 
Department of Commerce.* 

An amendment to the Air Commerce Act passed in 
February, 1929, authorized the Secretary of Commerce to 
provide for the examination and rating of flying schools. 
Although nothing can be done to compel schools to meet 
certain standards, those that do fulfill the requirements 
and become ‘approved’ by the Department of Commerce 
have a decided advantage over competing schools which 
do not have such a rating. 

If an approved flying school is in your vicinity, you will 
doubtless choose it as the one where you will enroll as a 
student. Such a school will have met a certain standard 
as to size of field available for take-offs and landings, and 
type of plane and number available for flying instruction. 
There will be hangar and shop facilities for proper main¬ 
tenance and repair of the school’s planes. Then there 
will be satisfactory classroom facilities for ground-school 
courses. 

* A list of aviation schools having approved school certificates may be 
obtained from the Department of Commerce, Aeronautics Branch, Wash¬ 
ington, D. C. 


EARNING A PILOT’S LICENSE 


219 


Ground School 

The ground-school courses will be given by a teacher 
licensed by the Department of Commerce to teach each 
subject. Your courses in ground school will include in¬ 
struction in Air Commerce Regulations; in aviation 
engines, including principles of internal combustion, 
carburetion, ignition, lubrication, cooling, construction, 
inspection, maintenance and repair; airplanes, including 
history of aviation, theory of flight, nomenclature, aero¬ 
dynamics, construction, rigging, inspection, maintenance, 
and repairs; meteorology; aerial navigation; aircraft in¬ 
struments, including radio and its use in aeronautics; and 
the care and use of parachutes. The number of subjects, 
and the required time to be devoted to each varies with the 
type of license, the transport ground course being the 
fullest and most complete. 

In the Air 

The flying instructors are transport pilots who have 
passed satisfactorily the prescribed Department of Com¬ 
merce tests. Many such instructors hold college degrees. 
You will be assigned to one with whom you probably will 
remain as a student until your 'check’ flights are taken 
with the chief instructor of the field before you 'solo.’ 

One day he tells you that the chief instructor is to fly 
with you. This flight disturbs you somewhat, for you 
certainly do not make your landings so well as you did 


220 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


with your instructor. Once you leveled off too soon and 
‘pancaked’ pretty badly. The chief looks out over the 
cockpit on this side and that as if to see if the landing- 
gear is still intact. Another attempt and you land on 
the front wheels. Up you bounce, but before you strike 
the ground again you have ‘given it the gun’ and are 
away for another trial. This time and the next you do 
better, but not so well as you feel you should. You ‘taxi’ 
across the field to the line. You do not dare ask any 
questions; you feel pretty humble at your bad perform¬ 
ance. You notice your instructor and the chief instructor 
talking by themselves, and you wonder what they are 
saying about you. 

You feel rather discouraged, but you return the next 
day. Nothing has been said about your soloing, and you 
certainly do not mention it yourself after yesterday. 

The day is perfect; you cannot remain depressed. As 
you take off into the clear atmosphere you almost forget 
that your instructor is sitting in the front cockpit. Some¬ 
how a sense of mastery over this mechanical thing comes 
over you. You bank your turns just right, you come down 
at just the right gliding angle, and your three-point 
landings are smooth. On the third one you receive the 
signal to remain on the ground. The instructor is getting 
out. He looks about him and waves for you to go alone. 

With a little prayer on your lips you are rising over the 
field. Almost before you know it you are around and 
have landed again, not just where you had planned, but 
safe, sound, and ‘soloed.’ 


EARNING A PILOT’S LICENSE 


221 


Days with check flights and solo flights follow. It is 
with a good deal of pride that you receive a card from 
‘contact’ and take a plane from the line without a check 
flight. But you know that it is said, “Pride goeth before 
a fall,” and you hope never to feel overconfident of your 
ability. In ground school you have studied some of the 
principles of aerodynamics, and you know many things 
about airplane engines. You know that you must be on 
the alert every instant, especially during this early period 
of your flying experience, and that you must always have 
your mind on your plane rather than on the people who 
may be watching you. 


A Private Pilot’s License 

Since you have chosen an approved school, you will be 
ready for your private pilot’s license after eight hours of 
solo flight. In this time you will have learned to make 
gentle and steep figure-eight turns, to spiral from two 
thousand feet with engine throttled, and to make good' 
three-point landings within five hundred feet of any 
particular spot. 

Perhaps you may be rather nervous as you perform these 
feats before the Department of Commerce inspector. 
You may not have answered the questions in the written 
test as completely as you might have done. But you 
passed, and you now possess a private pilot’s license. 
This certifies that you are “a private pilot of aircraft of 
the United States.” You may pilot “all types of licensed 


222 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


aircraft, but may not for hire, transport persons or 
property, nor give piloting instructions to students/’ 


Other Types of License 

Other types of license are the limited commercial, the 
industrial, and the transport. To earn a limited com¬ 
mercial license or an industrial license, one must be able to 
pass a more extensive written examination, have more 
solo-flying experience, and be able to accomplish satis¬ 
factorily certain air maneuvers and as many others as 
the Department of Commerce inspector deems necessary. 
The transport license is the highest type of license, and 
when one has earned such a one, he may feel that he has 
reached one of the high goals in aviation. 

Other types of license which will eventually be in¬ 
cluded in the transport license are given for a certain 
number of hours’ experience on seaplanes and on motor¬ 
less aircraft. 

The time necessary for earning a pilot’s license depends 
upon the ability of the student to learn the art. New 
methods of instruction are decreasing the amount of dual 
instruction necessary before solo flying, after which the 
student’s progress depends upon the actual solo time he 
can put in. Weather conditions may retard progress for 
the student, since he must gain his early solo-flying ex¬ 
perience under favorable weather conditions. There is 
not, as formerly, any set time in which he must actually 
complete his course, but generally the student who is 


223 


EARNING A PILOT’S LICENSE 

devoting all his time to training may secure a transport 
license in less than a year. Many secure it in six 
months. 


Expense Involved in Earning Licenses 


The cost in an approved school ranges from $600 for a 
private license to $4000 for a transport license. To this 
one must add living expenses and probable transportation 
to the flying field. 

Although the money involved is a large item, if one con¬ 
siders flying as a profession, it is far less costly than the 
required preparation for such professions as law, dentistry, 
or medicine. The Department of Commerce survey, 
April 1, 1930, of 84 per cent of approved schools is as 
follows: 


Type of License 
Private 
Commercial 
Transport 


Average Cost 
$ 345-$ 650 
$1050-11500 
$3075-14618 


Average Time 

7 % weeks 
5% months 

8 y 8 months 


CHAPTER XIX 

AN AIR FLIGHT 

One of your most interesting experiences will be, or 
perhaps has been, your first ride in an airplane. Before 
going up in an airplane you should always make sure that 
its safety and airworthiness have been approved by the 
Department of Commerce. A licensed plane will have 
the license given it by the Department, inside the cock¬ 
pit or the cabin. It will have a number assigned to it 
which will be printed on the wings and on the rudder. 
The number will be preceded by a *C/ which shows that it 
is a commercial plane and that it may be used to transport 
or carry passengers. Your pilot must hold either a com¬ 
mercial license or a transport license. The former allows 
a pilot to operate planes with paid passengers within an 
area ten miles distant from an airport; but since the trans¬ 
port license is given only to those who have had at least 
two hundred solo hours in the air, you will feel safer when 
a transport pilot is at the controls. 

You will doubtless take your first air trip from some 
approved airport on a fine day when there are not many, 
if any, clouds in the sky. Although practically every 
passenger plane is of the cabin type, most of the student 
224 


AN AIR FLIGHT 


225 



Student Pilot (Rear) with His Instructor (Front) in a 
Training Plane 

planes are of the open-eockpit style. From the latter one 
gets a better idea of the use of the controls. It will be in 
this type that you, as a prospective student, will take this 
demonstration flight. After you have donned a flying 
suit, a helmet, and a pair of goggles, and fastened on a 
parachute by snapping the strap fasteners across your 
chest and around your legs, you will take your seat in 
the rear cockpit of a sturdy biplane, while the instructor, 
a transport pilot, will climb into the forward seat. 

He will warn you to fasten your safety belt, a belt which 
holds you securely in your seat, but which may be un¬ 
fastened very readily by merely flipping over a piece of 
the metal part of the buckle. A mechanic is on hand to 



226 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


help get the motor started. Notice that the ignition 
switch is turned off. In an automobile this is often done by 
turning a key, but here a little lever is used. It is kept 
turned off while the mechanic winds the starting crank or 
else turns the propeller around and around. Then as he 
jumps back and says “Contact!” the pilot shouts back 
“Contact! ” as he turns on the switch and pulls the gasoline 
throttle part way back. The engine starts its steady roar. 
While it is warming up, you will have a chance to study 
the instruments. If the field is at sea level, the hand on 
the altimeter will point to zero. A compass may be at¬ 
tached in front, perhaps on the underside of the center 
wing section. Notice the tachometer; it now registers 
about fifteen hundred, which means that the crankshaft 
with the attached propeller is making that many revolu¬ 
tions per minute, spoken of as R.P.M.’s. Then there are 
the oil-pressure gauge, the oil-temperature gauge, and the 
speed indicator. You are not moving yet; so the air-speed 
indicator points to zero. 

Of course for cross-country or long flights there doubt¬ 
less would be several other instruments, but these will 
keep you acquainted with the way your motor is perform¬ 
ing, an important point for every flight, no matter how 
limited in duration or distance. 

The pilot is going to let you ‘follow through’ on the con¬ 
trols. Place your feet on the rudder bar to keep the 
rudder in the rear straight; place your right hand on top 
of the control stick, sometimes called the ‘joy stick’; place 
your left hand on the throttle. The mechanic removes the 


AN AIR FLIGHT 


227 


chocks, or blocks, from the front of the wheels. The 
throttle is moved forward and the stick held back as your 
pilot taxies across the field and turns to face the wind. 
This is done to decrease the ground speed and lessen the 
length of run, as well as to give the plane a quicker lifting 
force. It is easy to see that if one took off with the wind, 
the ground speed would be so great that some obstacle 
might be encountered before sufficient lift could be ob¬ 
tained. Did you notice how the elevators, or flippers, in 
the rear are pulled upward as the stick is held back in 
taxiing? The air is packed up against these surfaces; 
this keeps the tail down, preventing the heavy nose from 
tipping forward when the plane goes over any bumps on 
the ground. Now the pilot looks backward and around 
to see if any plane is about to land, for landing planes, 
as you recall, always have the right of way. Everything 
is clear. The throttle is pushed forward as far as it will 
go, to give the engine flying speed. The stick, too, is for¬ 
ward now; see how it changes the elevators to a down¬ 
ward position, so that the air pushes up the tail of the 
plane. You race across the field with your feet holding 
the rudder straight. Gradually the stick is pulled back 
again, lowering the tail, so that the plane is nosed up on 
the climb. You have left the ground, and with a steady 
climb you are up 1000 feet, yes, 2000 feet, in a few short 
seconds. The stick is now just straight or in neutral; 
the throttle, too, is pulled back to reduce the R.P.M. to 
about 1500, so as not to race your engine. 

You look over the side but feel no dizziness at all; 


228 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


you have the same sensation that you may feel when you 
look over the side of a tall building. 

You do not realize the speed, either, at which you are 
flying; yet the air-speed indicator registers eighty miles 
an hour. That does not mean, however, that you are 
actually passing over the ground at that rate, for you have 
been flying into the wind, the velocity of which, say, fifteen 
miles an hour, retards you just that much, to say nothing 
of the effect of the upward climb. But see now what is 
happening. The pilot is pressing on the left rudder to 
steer the plane left, but at the same time he is pushing the 
stick to the left. Notice the left aileron is up and the 
right one is down. The air pushing against these surfaces 
forces the left wing down and the right wing up, tipping 
the plane sideways. This is called banking. Your pilot, 
through his experience in the air, knows how to use the 
combination of the rudder and the stick to bank the plane 
at just the right angle in proportion to the speed, so that 
the plane neither skids toward the outside nor slips toward 
the inside. 

Unlike an automobile, in making turns a plane cannot 
slacken its speed, for if there is not sufficient speed there 
will not be sufficient lift given to the wings; and when the 
lift is decreased, ‘Old Man Gravity’ starts working to pull 
you down. You observe how easily your pilot makes the 
turns, how smoothly he operates the controls, how he 
keeps the nose on the horizon, and how straight he can 
fly. You have no fear and know that you could learn 
quickly the feel of the air, while keeping an eye on the 


AN AIR FLIGHT 


229 


instruments. You gain confidence in the ability of your 
motor, for you remember having read that accidents very 
seldom occur through defects in a plane or engine, but 
rather through the thoughtlessness or recklessness of some 
pilot. You have confidence in yours, and you know that 
he will no.t attempt any maneuvers which may be danger¬ 
ous. But listen, the noise of the motor has decreased, and 
the throttle is all the way back. Notice, too, that the 
horizon comes above where it was before. The plane is 
gliding downward into the wind toward the field; it loses 
altitude; you are nearing the edge of the field, sinking 
lower and lower. Now the stick is gradually pulled back 
as the plane levels off; and before you are aware that you 
have touched the ground, your pilot has set the plane 
down easily and smoothly on wheels and tail skid in what 
is called a Three-point landing/ 

You observed by the wind indicator on the hangar and 
by the small flags on the field in which direction the wind 
was blowing. The pilot took notice of these things and 
flew into the wind as he landed, for the force of the wind 
retards the ground speed of the plane and makes a landing 
in a small area safer. It also shortens the length of the 
run after landing. Did you notice how careful he was to 
hold the rudder bar rigid and straight so that no surface 
wind or rough spot on the ground would cause the plane 
to pivot around rapidly in what is known as a ‘ground 
loop/ This landing error sometimes tips the plane over 
on the wing, causing damage to that member. Notice, too, 
that after landing he still holds the stick back, which keeps 


230 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


the tail down, and drags it along on the tail skid, thus 
bringing the plane to a dead stop. He looks around and 
sees another plane gliding in on the right; so he waits until 
it has landed before he taxies back to the line. 

You have had your first air ride and can tell all your 
friends how delightful it was and advise them all to try it 
for themselves. 


CHAPTER XX 
MANEUVERS 

The Department of Commerce characterizes any in¬ 
tentional maneuver not necessary to air navigation as 
‘acrobatic flying.’ As you already know, one has to be 
able to perform some maneuvers in the air in order to 
earn a license to fly, but there are many kinds of acro¬ 
batics which pilots are able to perform. The use of the 
plane during the war brought out the necessity of the 
pilot’s being able to handle his plane in many spectacular 
ways in order to evade his enemy or to conquer him. It 
is always a debatable question just where useful 
knowledge of air maneuvers leave off and where ‘stunting’ 
maneuvers begin. 

The Department of Commerce requires a candidate for 
a transport pilot’s license to pass a flight test which in¬ 
cludes the following maneuvers: “From fifteen hundred 
feet with engine throttled make a 360° turn and land in 
normal landing attitude, by wheels touching ground in 
front of and within two hundred feet of a line designated 
by examiner for the Department of Commerce. Fly in 
emergency maneuvers such as spins, spirals side slips, 
231 


n 


232 


RULES AND REGULATIONS 


climbing turns, and recovering from stalls, and such others 
as the Secretary of Commerce deems necessary. Fly over 
a rectangular course at least one hundred miles, landing 
at place of take-off within five hours. This flight shall 
also include two obligatory landings, not at point of 
departure, when craft must come to rest. The course 
will be designated and the candidate will be furnished with 
route information by the examiner for the Department of 
Commerce at time of departure and the examiner for the 
Department of Commerce will determine whether the 
course was correctly followed and whether obligatory 
landings were satisfactory. Upon the presentation of satis¬ 
factory proof that the candidate has engaged in solo cross¬ 
country flights at a distance of at least one hundred miles 
within one year preceding the date of his application the 
flight specified in this subsection will be omitted. Cross- 
wind landings and take-offs must be effected.” 

The same flight test must be passed by candidates for 
a commercial license except for the cross-country flight; 
for industrial pilots “the cross-country flight shall be 
sixty miles.” The flight test for the private pilot is more 
simple and consists of “a series of five gentle and three steep 
figure eight turns from eight hundred to one thousand 
feet respectively.” “Spiral in one direction from two 
thousand feet with engine throttled and land in normal 
landing attitude by wheels touching ground in front of 
and within five hundred feet of a line designated by ex¬ 
aminer of Department of Commerce and three satisfactory 
landings.” 


MANEUVERS 


233 


Stunt Flying 

The performances of the stunt pilot always meets the 
ardent admiration of the public. Every one likes to be 
admired, and this urge in younger and inexperienced pilots 
often leads them to attempt that which their training and 
experience do not warrant. Then, too, fatal accidents 
sometimes occur because an ambitious pilot attempts to 
do maneuvers in a plane whose structural design was not 
at all intended for such uses. 

Aeronautical engineering has done much toward the 
development of safe aircraft for all purposes. There are 
men who design aircraft who themselves do not even fly, 
yet their mathematical solutions to the problems of air 
flight are so accurate that their product performs just as 
they had planned that it would. 

The qualities required for the ideal airplane are 
“strength, rigidity, plenty of reserve power, compactness 
and responsive controls.” 

One marvels at the speed with which an experienced 
pilot can take a reliable plane aloft and that he can put 
it through such startling maneuvers. 

There are many persons today who believe that sen¬ 
sational stunt flying does not promote the interests of 
aviation, and that the pilot skillful in getting out of a 
tight place should use his skill in avoiding such situations. 
The opinion of a majority of pilots with long experience 
seems to be that if a pilot, other, than one in the Army or 
Navy Air Corps, can spin and recover from a spin and can 



Plane Flying in Vertical Bank Position 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

Plane in Inverted Flight 









MANEUVERS 235 

do side-slips and stalls, vertical banks and turns at various 
angles, he has learned the necessary maneuvers for safe 
flying and emergency landings in small areas. 

Perhaps you would like to know what happens in some 
of these maneuvers. 

Let us consider 'spinning.’ You have read that when 
a plane stalls, it loses flying speed and the necessary lift 
to overcome the force of gravity. In all falling bodies, 
the heaviest part' leads in the rotating descent. It hap¬ 
pens so in the case of a plane: the heavy nose falls for¬ 
ward and the plane descends vertically with a whirling 
or spinning motion, the tail describing the larger circle. 
Thus, the descent is spoken of as a tailspin. 

When a pilot purposely makes a tail spin, he noses the 
plane upward into a stall and applies the rudder in the 
direction of rotation. As the plane falls, the rapid for¬ 
ward motion creates enough lift to the wing surfaces to 
bring the plane again in normal flight. Of course, such a 
maneuver must be done at sufficient altitude so that a 
plane can right itself before crashing into something or 
hitting the ground. 

The manner in which an airplane spins; that is, 
the number of times it will spin around in, say, 
1000 feet, depends upon its design and upon its rudder 
setting. 

'Looping’ is another favorite acrobatic stunt. In this 
maneuver the plane is flown at such speed that as it is 
nosed upward and the throttle pulled back, there will 
be sufficient impetus to carry it over the top of a loop. 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 


Planes of Aircraft Squadrons in Formation Flight 



Clyde Sunderland 

Army Condor Bombing Planes in Maneuvers 







MANEUVERS 


237 


As the plane takes the path of the elliptically shaped 
loop, it literally turns over on its back and comes around 
in the same direction in which it was headed before loop¬ 
ing. 

The first man to do this stunt in this country was 
Lincoln Beachy. In 1913 he learned that Adolphe Pigoud, 
a French flyer, had looped the loop and a year later Beachy 
had not only done the same thing once but a thousand 
times. Before the World War, Ruth Law had the distinc¬ 
tion of being the first woman flier in America to loop the 
loop. Today it is not considered a difficult stunt at all, and 
there are experts who have even made outside loops. In 
an outside loop the plane noses downward, around and 
back to normal flight. The reason why this is so much 
more difficult is that the pilot is on the outside of the 
loop. The centrifugal force affects him physically, 
making it difficult for him to keep his senses clear for the 
proper handling of the controls. 

The ‘side-slip’ is a maneuver that is used to lessen 
altitude. The occasional stopping of a motor in flight 
makes a knowledge of this maneuver most gratifying. It 
enables the pilot to land in a small-sized field. By bank¬ 
ing the plane with the stick, applying the opposite rudder, 
and keeping the nose forward in a normal gliding position 
the plane slips sideward, losing altitude rapidly. Re¬ 
covery is effected by raising the low wing to horizontal 
and changing the rudder control. 

The ‘wing-over’ is a pretty maneuver. It consists of a 
steep climbing turn, followed with a diving turn, both to- 



Some of the More Common Maneuvers 








MANEUVERS 239 

gether making a half circle. It is a quick way to change 
direction of flight. 

The necessity during the World War for pilots to be 
able to make quick 'get-aways/ to deceive the enemy 
planes as to methods of attack, and to get into a position 
for machine-gun effectiveness, developed many acrobatic 
stunts. 

These have been perfected, and new ones added by care¬ 
ful calculations of well-trained and daring pilots. One of 
our country’s greatest acrobatic pilots is Alford J. Wil¬ 
liams. 










PART VI 

SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 

AIRPORTS 

AIR-MAIL AND AIR-TRANSPORT LINES 
OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION 
GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 


/ 


ii 



CHAPTER XXI 
AIRPORTS 

There are not many boys or girls living near a city or 
large town who have not made a visit to an airport and 
while there watched the many types of planes landing 
and taking off, for practically all cities of 100,000 popula¬ 
tion, as well as scores of less populous towns, have their 
port. 

Occasional^ a boy living many miles from any airport 
has an unexpected opportunity to watch some plane make 
a forced landing on his father’s farm. A university pro¬ 
fessor, flying solo to fill a speaking engagement on aero¬ 
nautics at a national meeting of educators, gave such a 
boy this opportunity. 

Having successfully navigated his plane, first to the 
north and then to the south, to avoid flying into electric 
storms the flying professor, on the sudden approach of a 
third storm, decided to make a landing. He leveled off 
and made a good three-point landing on a smooth spot 
which proved to be in the middle of a farmer’s oatfield. 
After the storm passed, the farmer and his young son 
came to discuss the situation with the professor. The 
243 


244 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


boy, no doubt, received his first instruction in ‘ground 
school’ as he listened to the answers given to his many 
questions on air and airplanes. He at least felt com¬ 
pensated for the loss of his father’s oats in that part of the 
field. 


Some European Airports 

If you were traveling in Europe, you would be amazed 
at some of the outstanding airports there. You would 
visit Croyden Field in London and Templehof Field in 
Berlin, which was once a parade ground of the Emperor’s 
soldiers. Of course, you would want to see Le Bourget 
Field where Colonel Lindbergh landed in Paris, and if 
you went to Italy you would visit the field in Rome. The 
airports of Europe are always the marvel of American 
tourists. But you will see that architects and engineers 
in America are planning and building airports in which 
every convenience and service possible is offered the 
flying public. 


Kinds of Airports 

Airports may be placed in four classes: those munici¬ 
pally owned, which are under the jurisdiction of the town 
or city; those owned and operated by flying or transport 
companies; those which are controlled by clubs for 
private flying and sportsmen pilots; and the government 
fields where the Army and Navy flyers are trained. 


AIRPORTS 


245 


Government Fields 

One of these fields was dedicated at San Antonio, 
Texas, in June, 1930, and is the largest aviation field in 
the world. It embraces 2,362 acres, about half of which 
is grass-covered flat land. It is named Randolph Field 
after a native Texan who was known for his military 
service and his interest in the advancement of aviation, 
but it is popularly called ‘The West Point of the Air.’ 

Randolph Field is one of the greatest construction 
projects ever undertaken by the United States Army. It 
was started in November, 1928, and required about three 
years for its completion and an expenditure of over 
$30,000,000. 

Think of a flying field within which there will be 18 
miles of graded roads, 12 miles of water mains, 11 miles of 
sewers, and 10 miles each of gas, electric light, and 
telephone lines. 

The buildings are arranged in a central hexagonal 
area, leaving all the space outside available for flying 
lines. The plans provide for administration buildings; 
operations buildings; a school of medicine for training 
flight surgeons; cottages for married officers and their 
families; bachelor officers’ quarters, mess building, and 
club; and a barracks, headquarters, mess building, and 
recreation building for cadets. There are a chapel, a hos¬ 
pital and a school for children. There are shops, ware¬ 
houses, and a store. There will be 22 steel hangars, each 
110 feet by 120 feet. Every type of airplane, from the 


246 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


simple primary flying machine to the giant bomber, will be 
included in the field equipment. A modified Spanish type 
of architecture will prevail, and the government is giving 
careful consideration to the landscaping of the whole area. 

But there is a type of government airport in a class by 
itself, one on which it takes the most skilled pilot to 
land. 

These ‘fields’ are on the decks of the Navy’s aircraft 
carriers. The Lexington and the Saratoga are the largest 
vessels of this class in existence. Some 80-odd naval air¬ 
craft, varying in size from single-seater fighting planes to 
huge bombers, are operated from the deck of each of these 
carriers. Although the total deck length is 888 feet, only 
about one-third of that distance is available for landing, 
and it takes a pilot with a ‘smooth’ stick and steady nerves 
to bring his plane at rest in exactly the right spot, where 
the arresting landing gear on the deck will retard the 
roll of the plane. Especially this is true if an emergency 
should require a landing after nightfall. This is the 
ultimate test for skillful flying. 

A gentle breeze is amplified into a gale as the fast- 
moving carrier, with the propellers of its eighty planes 
whirling, heads into the wind just before the take-off. 
Then, only a few seconds apart, one after another the 
planes roar straight up the deck and into the air. 

A deck crash is uncommon, and although the Navy’s 
carriers have been in operation for several years, no ac¬ 
cident has ever resulted in more than minor cuts or bruises 
to the pilots. 


AIRPORTS 


247 


Municipal Airports 

Cities are aware that their prosperity depends in a 
great measure upon transportation facilities. You have 
read in history of a city whose site at a crossroads or at a 
junction of two rivers or whose good harbor was the reason 
for its rapid growth and development. So, today, cities 
are selecting space for, or have already completed, a mod¬ 
ern airport. 

In 1927 the Kansas City Airport was a cornfield. Now 
it is one of the best fields in the country for night flying. 

At Louisville, Kentucky, you could find space at the air¬ 
port for parking your car along with 3,000 others. 

The Detroit city airport has a hangar capable of housing 
175 airplanes and costing $1,000,000. You could land at 
night at Grosse Isle airport near this city on a ‘dotted line’ 
of lights buried in the ground. The lighting of these run¬ 
ways is controlled automatically by a wind vane. 

At the municipal field at Oakland, California, you would 
find a 37-room hotel, and you could eat at a restaurant 
capable of serving 185 persons at the same time. 

Miami, Florida, has a dirigible field, one of the first in 
the country. 

A swimming pool and complete recreational facilities 
are found at Central Airport, Camden, New Jersey. 

One of the largest municipal airports in the world is 
located at Cleveland, Ohio. 

Newark Airport, Newark, New Jersey, is located ‘where 
airways, railroads, waterways, and highways meet/ An 




Clyde Sunderland 

Municipal Airport, Oakland, California 

Notice size of lettering and direction sign. 


Fairchild Aerial Surveys, Inc. 

Boston Municipal Airport 









AIRPORTS 


249 


elevated highway miles long leads directly from this air¬ 
port to the Holland Tunnel. 

New York City spent $4,500,000 to convert the swampy 
waste land of Barren Island into a municipal airport which 
is called the 'Floyd Bennett Field.’ In addition to com¬ 
mercial aviation, departments of the city government 
have hangars here. Even the Board of Education has a 
hangar where boys and girls of New York can go to supple¬ 
ment their courses in aeronautical education with obser¬ 
vation and practice. This field was officially dedicated 
on May 23, 1931, the day that New York City’s millions 
turned their eyes skyward as more than six hundred Army 
airplanes roared overhead, 'saving’ the city from an 
imaginary invading enemy air fleet. 


The ‘Aviation Country Club’ 

The field at Hicksville, Long Island, is an example of 
the aviation-country-club idea. Here the 'elite’ from 
the Metropolitan area learn to fly their own planes from 
their own airport. It was within the privacy of this club 
field that Anne Lindbergh made her first solo flight while 
her distinguished husband was an intensely interested 
spectator. 

The country flying club is not a new idea. Such clubs 
have been popular in England for the past ten years. 
One has a membership of over four hundred and during 
its existence has trained over a thousand English sports¬ 
men. The Prince of Wales, who became a fully qualified 


250 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


air pilot in October, 1929, has his own private landing field 
at Smith’s Lawn, Windsor Great Park, London. Here in 
his hangars are dressing rooms for him and his pilots. 
His own machines are available at a moment’s notice, and 
he fills many engagements by plane. 

The country-club idea is developing rapidly in Canada, 
Australia, and the countries of Europe. The Aviation 
Country Club, Inc., with offices in New York City, is 
organizing a nation-wide chain of clubs in the United 
States. One of its members is a woman who has been 
flying for several years and who holds the coveted trans¬ 
port license. In the interests of the movement she took 
a transcontinental airplane tour, flying 12,000 miles and 
visiting 92 cities. 


Commercial Airports 

Commercial flying organizations are anticipating the 
needs of the future and are investing millions of dollars in 
their airports. 

On July 1, 1930, the Curtiss-Wright Flying Corporation 
had 36 bases in 25 different states. Its airport at Chicago 
was built at a cost of $3,000,000. 

One located at Valley Stream, Long Island, New York, 
covering 320 acres, is nearing completion. When the 
author first visited the field, the students, while awaiting 
their turn for a ‘ship’ were housed in a one-story two-room 
building called ‘The Student’s Roost.’ Busy tractors and 
steam shovels rumbled away all day leveling knolls and 
hills on one side and filling depressions on the other. 


AIRPORTS 


251 


The slightest breeze caught up the loose earth and filled the 
air with clouds of dust. Landing was doubly difficult 
as one peered through the dust to judge his distance and 
at the same time selected a spot to land his plane out of 
the path of those ever-moving vehicles of progress. But 
a year later what a difference! Four of the nine concrete 
hangars are all complete, surrounded by concrete ‘aprons’ 
and grassy lawns. There are spacious offices for the field 
personnel and artistically furnished lounging rooms; 
a women’s department with rest room, telephone, lockers, 
showers, and lavatories; a terrace, one flight up on Hangar 
Number 2, where guests may sit under gaily colored porch 
umbrellas and watch the activities on the field. 

Not far away one may be served at the field restaurant, 
and the plans include a hotel and dormitories. 

A part of this field is occupied by the Navy for a Naval 
Reserve aviation base. It was here that some 140 planes 
of the Navy Air Fleet made their headquarters while for 
two days they made spectacular mimic air attacks on New 
York. It was an interesting spectacle the morning the 
scores of planes left the field. Taking off in formations of 
three, within 45 minutes they were in the air and on their 
way to the Naval Air Station at Anacostia, D. C. Here 
they were reviewed by officials of the Navy Department 
and then proceeded to Hampton Roads. 

Features of an Approved Airport 

Every field aims to receive a favorable rating from the 
Aeronautics Division, Department of Commerce. On one 


252 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


that meets the minimum basic requirements you will 
find a firm, smooth, well-drained landing area, approxi¬ 
mately level, without obstructions or depressions pre¬ 
senting hazards in taking off or landing, and with suitable 
approaches. Within this landing area you will see a 
100-foot circle whose circumference 4 feet wide will always 
be kept whitewashed if not painted with chrome yellow. 
No lettering must appear in the circle, but on one or 
more of the buildings you will see the name of the airport 
or the city, in letters large enough to be read from an 
altitude of 2,000 feet. They, too, will be in chrome yellow 
against a dead black background, for this color combina¬ 
tion is the one most easily visible from the sky. 

Then you will see a wind-direction indicator, commonly 
called the ‘wind sock/ It is a tapering, cylindrical, muslin 
bag 12 feet long, open at both ends, 36 inches in diameter 
at the throat and 12 inches in diameter at the tail. Per¬ 
haps also there will be a black and yellow marker in the 
form of an airplane. When you land, you will expect to 
find facilities for supplying fuel, oil, and water for your 
aircraft. There will be dependable communication and 
transportation facilities to the nearest city or town. Air¬ 
port personnel are required to be in attendance during the 
day or available on call by telephone. 

There are certain additional features which would 
enable an airport to enjoy a higher rating. The landing 
area would be conspicuous with its fencing posts of yellow 
and black or white and black. There would be a large 
hangar, sleeping quarters, additional repair equipment suf- 


AIRPORTS 


253 


ficient to permit changing of engines and landing gear and 
making major engine and plane repairs. You would find 
more wind-direction indicators and weather instruments. 
On a bulletin board there would be the latest report of 
weather conditions. If the station was within 400 miles 
of Department of Commerce Airways, it would be equipped 
with a radio receiving set and loud speaker, over which 
hourly weather reports could be broadcast. A first-aid 
equipment and ambulance accommodations would be 
available. There would be waiting and rest rooms, a 
restaurant, adequate fire-fighting apparatus, and sufficient 
personnel in attendance to give proper operation to the 
airport. 

Darkness always presents a problem to the aviator. 
As night overtakes him and as he strains his eyes for some 
guiding light, how welcome are the beacon lights along the 
airways, as they flash red to tell that there are no landing 
fields near or flash the friendly green that tells that one 
is in the immediate vicinity. How welcome, too, is the 
well-lighted airport. 

An approved field will have a long-range beacon light 
of not less than 100,000 candlepower. About the field it¬ 
self there will be a row of low boundary lights. Then 
there will be one or more flood lights operated at a central 
control point, which illuminate the buildings and field. 
An illuminated wind-direction indicator shows the pilot 
the direction of the wind, so that he may head his plane 
into it as he makes his landing. 

All obstructions on the field or in the vicinity of it will 


254 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


be clearly marked with red lights. There will be a ceiling 
projector in the form of an incandescent searchlight to 
determine the height of the ‘ceiling’ above the airport at 
night. 

The most brilliant air beacon in the world is installed 
atop the Palmolive Building in Chicago. It is a rotating 
light shaft of 2,000,000,000 candlepower and visible for 
500 miles. Below this main beacon is another fixed ray 
pointing toward the Municipal Airport. 


Need for More Airports 

At a recent airport conference a strong plea was made for 
small-town airports. If every city, town, and village of 
the United States made provisions for airport facilities, 
America could boast its supremacy in the air. It is the 
small city, where land can be obtained near the business 
section at a comparatively reasonable price, that has a 
ready opportunity to provide itself with an airport. Such 
a port would attract airlines, make rapid transportation 
possible, create publicity, invite tourists, increase business, 
and promote the interest of aviation. 

Look about the vicinity of your city or town for the 
acreage necessary for an airport. Perhaps you may be the 
young pioneer upon whose vision the future prosperity of 
your community may depend. 


CHAPTER XXII 


AIR-MAIL AND AIR-TRANSPORT LINES 

When one reads of endurance flights, stunt and ex¬ 
hibition flying, and the frequent long-distance flights, one 
is likely to think that these are the important phases of 
aviation. But America to-day is doing a prodigious 
amount of other kinds of flying. There is a great trans¬ 
continental system of air-mail, air-express, and passenger 
service, which is rapidly growing. 

Air Mail 

Before the World War there were no such regular routes 
in operation. However, a four-pound sack of mail had 
been carried five miles by a small Bleriot monoplane from 
the old Mineola Field, Long Island, and dropped near the 
Mineola post office five miles away on September 23, 1911. 
But the first experimental air-mail route was started in 
May, 1918, between Belmont Park, Long Island, New 
York, and Washington, D. C. It was operated by the 
Army as additional training for Army pilots. After three 
months, or in August of the same year, the Post Office 
Department took over actual operation. Army training 
255 


256 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


planes were first used, but after the war ended, in 
November, 1918, many of the surplus De Haviland planes 
were remodeled and put into use. 

In 1919 the Post Office Department started plans for a 
transcontinental air-mail route between New York, 
Chicago, and San Francisco. By September, 1920, there 
was completed a combination daylight air-mail service 
and night train-mail service across the continent. The 
mail was flown out of New York and put on a train in the 
evening at Chicago, then taken off the train the following 
morning and flown the rest of the route to San Francisco. 
Eastward the procedure was reversed. Through service 
by air alone was begun July 1, 1924, after the section over 
which the mail was carried by rail had been lighted. 

During 1926, contracts were let to civil transport com¬ 
panies to carry mail by air. With the exception of a con¬ 
tract opened between Fairbanks and McGrath, Alaska, 
February 1, 1924, the first air route under contract to the 
government began operations in February, 1926, between 
Detroit and Cleveland, and Detroit and Chicago. By the 
end of the first half-year nine more contracts were let for 
air-mail service. 

During 1929 nearly 4,000 tons of mail were carried by air, 
for which the transport lines received over $13,000,000. 
Out of that vast amount of mail carried only about one 
pound in a ton was lost by fire. To prevent even this 
slight loss, the Post Office Department, in September, 
1930, put into service fireproof bags. This new bag is 
slightly larger than the pouch formerly used by the air- 


MAIL AND TRANSPORT LINES 


257 


mail service, which was 24 inches wide by 41 inches long. 
The pouch is made of asbestos, lined with high-grade 
canvas. It is steel-riveted on sides and bottom and has a 
triple-closing device which prevents the flames from 
penetrating the bag through its neck. It was subjected to 
an actual fire test and withstood the heat perfectly. It 
weighs 15 pounds. 

The first foreign mail flown by air was carried between 
Seattle and Victoria, B. C., in October, 1920. Now air-mail 
service extends to Cuba and other islands of the West 
Indies, to Canada, Mexico, the Canal Zone, and South 
American states. It was Colonel Lindbergh who opened 
the air-mail route between Miami, Florida, and the South 
American cities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, by a 
twelve-hour flight across the Caribbean Sea to the Canal 
Zone, on the first leg of this new air line. 

Mail has been taken from incoming steamers and de¬ 
livered hours ahead of schedule time. As an example, the 
incoming steamship Bremen sent a radio message to 
Boston that a seaplane carrying air mail would be released 
from its deck some 350 miles from shore. Just 4 hours 
and 32 minutes later thousands of spectators saw the 
plane land safely at the East Boston Airport. 

The Air Commerce Act of 1926 gave authority to the 
Department of Commerce “to furnish air traffic those aids 
which will result in the greatest degree of flight efficiency.” 
Now the government-improved airways exceed 25,000 
miles, more than half of which is lighted and equipped for 
night-flying operations. 












































AIRWAY MAP OF 
THE UNITED STATES 



£1 

NASSAU 


MEXICO CITY 


HAVAN 


.TO CAMAGUEY 
'TO KINGSTON 




























260 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


Air Express 

Another exceptional development of air transport is the 
air-express service. The many different air lines deliver¬ 
ing express to over eighty-two American cities are con¬ 
stantly enlarging their services. 

The transportation of jewels, securities, and other 
valuable cargoes by air is nothing new in Europe. During 
nine days an air-express shipment of $25,000,000 was made 
across the English Channel from London to Paris. In 
the United States, money, jewels, wearing apparel, sport¬ 
ing goods, small machine parts, fruit, perishable mer¬ 
chandise, and a host of other things are being shipped 
every day by air express. 

One of the most unusual air shipments was made when 
105 queen bees were sent from Florida to California. 
Each bee was inclosed in a small box and the boxes were 
then wrapped in one package. The queens were only two 
days on the trip from their old home in Florida to their 
new owners in California. Six refrigerator planes carry 
about 3000 pounds of fish packed in dry ice each trip from 
the Gulf of Mexico to Brownsville, Texas, where they are 
packed for shipment to northern cities. In a Chicago 
restaurant you can eat a fish that only a few hours before 
was flapping its tail in the briny waters of the Atlantic. 

An example of the possibilities of air transport was 
demonstrated at the Newark Airport in February, 1931, 
when an airway luncheon was served which consisted only 
of such food as had been brought by air. Caviar came 


MAIL AND TRANSPORT LINES 


261 



Loading Express on to an Air-Express Plane 

from the Great Lakes over Colonial Airways, beef bouillon 
from Chicago via National Air Transport, pork sandwiches 
from Kansas, and strawberries for mousse from the Ozarks 
via Transcontinental and Western Air, Idaho potatoes 
and onions from Denver via United Aircraft and Trans¬ 
port, and Virginia ham sandwiches from the South via 
Eastern Air Transport. Butter came from Oklahoma. 
In the salad were pineapples from Panama, avocados from 
California, apples from Oregon, oranges from both Florida 
and California, grapefruit from Texas. There was even 
candied cactus from Arizona. 

Today in New York City you can buy cut roses which 
were nodding on their bushes in the Midwest at noon the 








262 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


day before. At the annual flower-shows in that city 
there are flowers and plants which come by air from many 
parts of the country. 

One company gives a flat-rate service between New 
York and Boston. If you live in New York and wish to 
send a birthday gift to a friend in Boston all you need 
do is to phone for a Western Union messenger boy and 
hand him your package. Just four hours later your 
friend will be unwrapping your gift. 

Unless special arrangement is made in advance, no 
single piece sent by air express may be more than 60 inches 
long or more than 19 inches wide, and if it is over 40 inches 
long it shall not be over 4 inches deep. The combined 
length and girth may not be over 106 inches. 

Air Passenger Service 

The most fascinating phase of commercial aviation, that 
of air-passenger service, is developing very rapidly in this 
country. The first service was maintained daily, but 
passengers rode in open-cockpit planes designed to carry 
air mail. Now thousands of passengers are carried yearly 
over millions of miles. 

Everything is being done to add to the safety, comfort, 
and convenience of the passenger. You may now take a 
taxi from a hotel in any large city and be whisked away to 
an airport where with several other passengers you take 
your place in the cabin of a large airplane. Your chair is 
deeply cushioned, and it may be adjusted to make you still 


MAIL AND TRANSPORT LINES 


263 


more comfortable if you become sleepy and wish to take 
a nap. The rug harmonizes in color and design with up- 
hostery, curtains, and wall covering. Windows extending 
the full length of the cabin give proper ventilation in 
summer and winter. Wall lights and ceiling lamps light 
the cabin at night. A little kitchenette with refrigerator 
and electric grill is part of the equipment on the large 
planes. Here a full-course dinner may be prepared and 
served you on long flights, or a tasty little ‘snack’ on shorter 
hops. In the rear you will find the conveniences of a 
typical rest room, with a washbowl supplied with hot and 
cold water, soap, towels, and mirror. 

Devices are installed to reduce the noise, so that you 
may converse with your companions or be entertained by 
radio programs. On some of the planes there are motion 
pictures. You will not need to worry about fire, for a 
valve-controlled fire extinguisher operates to put out fires 
in any one of the two or more motors. An instrument 
will show you how high you are traveling and at what 
rate of speed, which in one large transport plane is from 
115 miles per hour cruising speed to 150 per hour high 
speed. 

Your companions may be vacationists who want the 
experience of air flight, business men and women to whom 
speed means dollars added to their bank account, or indi¬ 
viduals whose presence is urgently needed at some distant 
place. 

The man who pilots your plane has had thousands of 
hours in the air. His co-pilot or assistants are well trained, 


264 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


cool-headed, and efficient. Stewards and attendants often 
are college men. 

If you prefer not to fly at night, you may take advantage 
of the combination air-mail service. You may fly from 
dawn to dusk, and during the night ride in a sleeper on 
a railroad train. The list of railroads connected in some 
way with air-transport lines would fill several pages. 

The airplane is recognized as a reliable method of trans¬ 
portation, and man is flying faster, higher, and farther 
every year. 

The following table shows the growth of air transporta¬ 
tion in the past six years. 


Year 

Lines in 

Number of 

Miles 

Passengers 


Operation 

Transport Planes 

Flown Daily 

Carried 

1926 

19 

95 

12,627 

5,782 

1927 

24 

144 

14,363 

12,594 

1928 

32 

294 

28,690 

52,934 

1929 

33 

619 

55,460 

165,263 

1930 

35 

685 

78,997 

385,910 

1931 

45 

700 

134,066 

176,143 (first 6 months) 



CHAPTER XXIII 
OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION 

Perhaps you would like to know what are the oppor¬ 
tunities in aviation for those who hold licenses to fly or for 
those whose interest is in the technical or the commercial 
development of this great method of transportation. 

Positions may be classified under four heads according 
to the minimum training required.* 


Department 

Classification 

Training 

1. Engineering 

Engineer 

University 


Draftsman 

Vocational School 



or College 


Computers 

Vocational School 



or College 

2. Mechanical 

Mechanics 

Trade School 


Apprentices 

Trade School 

3. Executive 

Business 

Business College 

4. Piloting 

Pilots 

Ground School 


Civilian 

Flying School 


Military 

Army-Navy-Ma- 


rine Air Corps 


* From a bulletin prepared by the Guggenheim Fund for the Promo¬ 
tion of Aeronautics. 


265 


266 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


The future of aviation depends largely upon meeting 
problems that can be solved only by men with engineering 
education. Aeronautical engineering demands special 
aptitude in mathematics, physics, and mechanics, with 
more than average ability in the power of concentra¬ 
tion and close application in research work. The fresh¬ 
man enrolling today for such a course in engineering must 
complete four years of college work, after which he will 
have to have two or three years’ practical experience be¬ 
fore he can be considered a useful aeronautical engineer. 
It is evident that it is a long and expensive course, but as 
the aviation industry develops, manufacturers will more 
and more employ college-trained men to fill positions in 
their engineering departments. 

Although the most highly paid men will be found in the 
research and experimental laboratories, other positions 
will demand the services of those with engineering train¬ 
ing. The airport designer is another specialist who will be 
called upon more and more as fields are opened up through¬ 
out the country. The study of the location of airports 
and airfields with regard to such factors as weather condi¬ 
tions, drainage, surfacing, and probable expansion, is an 
engineering problem, as is the installation of equipment 
for weather stations, for radio receiving and broadcasting 
sets and signal beacons, for fire protection, and for traffic 
control. There are positions open to aeronautical mete¬ 
orologists with college degrees and practical experience. 
Aeronautical draftsmen are needed in every aircraft manu¬ 
facturing plant. 


OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION 267 

For the air-minded young men or women who lack the 
education, qualification, or financial support necessary 
for technical courses, there is an opportunity to fit them¬ 
selves for good positions by attending first-class voca¬ 
tional schools or good trade schools. In these schools a 
high-school education is supplemented by actual shop 
practice. An airplane mechanic must, before receiving 
a license from the Department of Commerce, have had at 
least one year’s actual experience maintaining or repair¬ 
ing aircraft. The applicant for a position as airplane- 
engine mechanic must have had at least two years’ experi¬ 
ence on gas engines, one year of which must have been on 
airplane engines. 

Then there is an almost unlimited variety of mechani¬ 
cal jobs in a typical airplane factory, including those of 
metal-workers and tool-makers. Here many opportuni¬ 
ties arise for promotion to inspector, foreman, supervisor, 
or shop superintendent. 

The positions open for both men and women in the 
business side of aviation are unlimited. Companies manu¬ 
facturing aircraft, like any other industrial companies, 
must have the typical personnel — presidents, vice presi¬ 
dents, treasurers, secretaries, managers, publicity men, 
salesmen, and others whose executive ability and train¬ 
ing along aeronautical lines are valuable. Many a young 
man who may be filling a minor position today will, 
through application to business, tact, and personality, find 
advancement sure, for the aviation industry is expand¬ 
ing very rapidly. 




Making Commodore Planes at the Consolidated Aircraft Corporation Factory, 

Buffalo, New York 













OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION 


269 


Opportunities for positions with airline and transport 
companies are rapidly increasing. This method of trans¬ 
portation is expanding as railroad travel did some years 
ago, making increases necessary in the personnel of traffic 
departments. In fact every phase of the business of deal¬ 
ing with the traveling public offers new opportunities for 
employment. Think of the men needed at the airline 
terminals and at points between them to keep the fields in 
condition, lights and radio equipment functioning, and to 
answer any calls from pilots who have been forced to make 
emergency landings. Then there is the operations office, 
where men are employed to take care of scheduling the 
regular trips or to arrange for extra planes for special 
trips. Women, too, are employed as ticket-sellers, infor¬ 
mation clerks, stenographers, and hostesses. 

For the actual flyer there are varied types of positions. 

The private pilot is limited to flying his own or an¬ 
other’s plane for pleasure only or on business for which he 
does not receive any pay. 

The commercial license enables a pilot to engage in fly¬ 
ing his own plane or another’s for pay within a restricted 
area. He may act as co-pilot on a transport line or an 
air-mail route. 

The industrial pilot may receive pay for various kinds 
of useful work. Control of insects is an important work. 
This is done by flying low over cotton or grain fields, 
orchards, or forest areas, and spraying a cloud of insect 
powder which destroys the insects themselves or settles 
down on the foliage on which the larvae feed, and poisons 


270 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


them. Other interesting types of aerial work include 
mapping, surveying, mineral prospecting, locating forest 
fires, sky writing, or aerial advertising, carrying food or 
medical supplies to isolated or devastated regions, and 
photography. 

All these, as well as every other phase of aircraft flying, 
are open to the transport pilot. He may qualify for a 
pilot of an air-mail or an air-transport line. He may 
pilot private airplanes for their owners across the conti¬ 
nent on pleasure, sight-seeing, or business trips. The 
greater the number of flying hours he has had, the more 
valuable he will be. Test pilots for experimental aircraft 
must have nerve, experience, and exceptional ability. A 
transport pilot may accept a position as an instructor in a 
flying school. In such a position he must add to his other 
qualifications a vast amount of patience. 

Another important position that also demands actual 
flying is that of navigator, the person who reads the 
instruments and tells the pilot what course to take. The 
navigator will be a more and more important figure in fly¬ 
ing ; indeed many flights have ended successfully because 
the pilot himself was a good navigator or because a good 
navigator was a member of the crew. 

A navigator who also understands radio ought to be 
able to secure a good position at any time. Since radio 
is becoming such an important means of directing flight, 
trained men in this field will be needed to accompany air¬ 
craft, and others will be needed at the ground stations to 
send out and receive messages. 


OPPORTUNITIES IN AVIATION 


271 


Positions open to men pilots are always open to women 
flyers who possess the same grade of license. The woman 
flyer may transport passengers, demonstrate planes, com¬ 
pete in races, strive for records, and take part in pageants 
and in formation or stunt flying. 

Opportunity is offered a limited number of young men 
to receive aeronautical education at government expense 
at the Army Air Corps flying schools. Candidates must 
be male citizens of the United States between twenty and 
twenty-seven years of age, of good character, sound phy¬ 
sique, and excellent health. Before being accepted, 
candidates must pass an examination consisting of three 
parts: physical, educational, and psychological. 

The physical examination is very rigid, particular at¬ 
tention being paid to the eye tests. The educational ex¬ 
amination covers two years of college work, but may be 
omitted if the applicant can furnish proof of having satis¬ 
factorily completed two years of work at an approved col¬ 
lege or university. The psychological test is the hardest 
to pass. It is said that only about 75 per cent of all candi¬ 
dates pass. It is given by specialists who test how quickly 
one’s mind responds in sending out messages for bodily 
movements — it shows whether one has natural ability for 
flying, and it analyzes one’s personality traits. 

Those who pass the three examinations are accepted as 
flying cadets. Flying cadets receive $7 a month and an 
allowance for food. Their uniforms are furnished with¬ 
out cost. The courses start on July 1, November 1, and 
March 1 of each year. 


272 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


The first eight months of the heavier-than-air training 
is given at a primary school. Besides the time in the 
air, students are trained in airplane engines, navigation, 
machine guns, radio, and other academic subjects neces¬ 
sary for a military pilot. 

On the completion of the primary training the students 
are transferred to the advanced flying school at Kelly 
Field, San Antonio, Texas, for the remaining four months 
of the course. Here training consists of flight in service- 
type airplanes, cross-country flying, aerial gunnery, and 
special training in pursuit, attack, bombardment, or ob¬ 
servation aviation. 

The successful completion of the course includes about 
250 hours in the air, and graduates receive the rank of 
second lieutenant. They are allowed to return to civilian 
life, but if they wish they may report for active duty for 
two weeks each year, when they are permitted to fly gov¬ 
ernment airplanes at government flying fields without any 
expense to themselves. 

The Naval air-training center is at Pensacola, Florida. 
The Naval Aviation Reserve draws students and gradu¬ 
ates from certain approved colleges and universities. An 
applicant must be between eighteen and twenty-eight 
years of age. He must qualify under strict Navy rules. 
Government training in balloons and airships is given at 
the Balloon and Airship School, Scott Field, Belleville, 
Illinois. 

Many outstanding pilots, among whom are Colonel 
Lindbergh, Lieutenant Doolittle, Lieutenant Soucek, and 
Alford Williams, are government-trained. 


CHAPTER XXIV 

GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 

The future of aviation is a challenge to the most imagi¬ 
native mind. You could let your imagination conjure 
up what would seem the most novel aircraft, flying at ter¬ 
rific speeds, at impossible altitudes, and for unknown 
destinations, and perhaps within a few years you would 
see at least some of your fancies being put into actual 
practice. 

When, on the twenty-fifth anniversary of their first 
flight, Orville Wright was asked if he and his brother 
thought, when they made that flight, that aviation would 
reach the development of today, he replied, “Yes, but it 
has reached, in twenty-five years, the place that Wilbur 
and I dreamed it might reach in a hundred years.” What 
development will the next twenty-five years bring? 

It is said that the future of aviation lies in the hands 
of the engineer. Certainly he has been very busy in the 
past years. The rapid growth of air-transport lines has 
increased the building of larger aircraft and specially de¬ 
signed flying boats and amphibians. Great attention is 
paid to the specific purpose for which the transport plane 
273 


274 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


is to be used, whether for mail, passengers, or express, and 
whether for short hops or long transcontinental voyages. 
This just reverses the old order, in which the operator had 
to adapt to his special needs the planes that were available. 

Some of the giant transport planes of Europe and 
America weigh from seven to fifty-six tons when loaded. 
You know how a motor truck 'chug-chugs' up a steep grade 
with a load of perhaps five tons. Think of a set of wings 
strong enough and motors powerful enough to carry eleven 
times such a load through the air. 

You know that it is difficult for you to lift and carry 
a person your own weight. But in our own country experi¬ 
ments are successful with flying boats which carry one 
pound of useful load for every pound of their own weight. 

Some persons believe that the future airplane will be 
a huge flying wing with motors along its top developing 
thousands of horsepower, and quarters inside for hundreds 
of passengers. Perhaps it would be interesting to study 
some types already in operation. 


Some Modern Types of Airplane 

A type of aircraft familiar to German engineers is the 
Junkers G-38. It is made of all-metal duralumin. Pas¬ 
sengers are accommodated partly in the mono-wing sec¬ 
tion and partly in the fuselage. 

The Rohrback Romar is an all-metal flying boat. It 
established a record when its three 550-horsepower motors 
took it to an altitude of 6500 feet with a 7-ton load. This 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 275 


would be about the same as carrying 86 passengers or over 
300,000 ordinary letters. 

The Fokker F-32 has a fuselage, tail surfaces, and land¬ 
ing gear of tubular steel construction. Two engines are 
mounted tandem on each side of the fuselage, those in 
front having two-bladed propellers and those in the rear 
having three-bladed ones. As a day plane it can carry 
thirty passengers, and at night half that number find 
sleeping comfortable in full-sized berths. 

The Consolidated Commodore, a flying boat, is in¬ 
tended to furnish the design for giant flying boats for 
seven-day service between New York and Buenos Aires. 

The Curtiss Condor is a land transport biplane carrying 
eighteen persons besides two pilots. It has two powerful 
water-cooled motors either of which is designed to support 
the total weight. The cabin, with luxurious chairs, is 
soundproofed by a three-inch air space between inner 
and outer walls double-lined with sound and shock¬ 
absorbing material. 

The Boeing 80A is another type of biplane. It also 
has soundproofed walls and ceiling. In eleven seconds 
it can take off and one minute later be over 800 feet in 
the air. A transport company operates a fleet of these 
for passenger service between Chicago and San Francisco. 

The Keystone Patrician is another type of large trans¬ 
port monoplane in service between New York and Boston. 

The flying boat and its closely related type, the am¬ 
phibian, have offered interesting problems to the designer. 
They are serviceable for the sportsman-pilot who can hop 


% 



Some Modern Types of Airplane 















































278 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


to his seashore home or his camp on a mountain lake and 
use these waterways for his airport. A big forty-passen¬ 
ger Sikorsky amphibian is in service between New York 
and Bermuda. A seaplane has in an emergency glided 
down to safety on land, its all-metal bottom skidding along 
on the ground. 

To stimulate competition among aircraft manufac¬ 
turers, the Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion 
of Aeronautics offered a prize of $100,000 for a plane with 
special safety characteristics. Twenty-seven companies 
entered the contest, but one by one they dropped out until 
only fifteen machines were left for the final tests. Two, 
the Tanager and the Handley-Page, an English machine, 
scored highest in all the points. When the final decision 
of the judges was reached, the Curtiss Tanager had equaled 
or exceeded all requirements, and on January 6, 1930, Mr. 
C. M. Keys, then president of the Curtiss Aeroplane and 
Motor Company, was handed a $100,000 check by Captain 
E. S. Land, vice president of the Fund. 

This ordinary-looking biplane has several novel features 
which make its landing and flight performance really re¬ 
markable. On the tips of the lower wings are full-floating 
ailerons which enable the pilot to control the plane for a 
low-speed landing, which was one of the requirements of 
the competition. They also give stability when the plane 
is in flight. Along the full length of the wings at the trail¬ 
ing edge are flaps. These are operated from the cockpit 
to increase the camber of the airfoil and give it increased 
lift. Along the leading edge, slots open automatically as 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 279 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Tanager, a Prize-Winning Plane 

the plane is tipped up on a climb. This gives lifting 
power to the plane and at the same time keeps it from 
stalling (losing flying speed) and going into a spin. 

The Tanager has a wing span of 43 feet, 10 inches, and 
a chord of 5 feet. Its maximum flying speed is 111 miles 
per hour, cruising speed 95 miles per hour, with a landing 
speed of only 37.1 miles per hour. Slow gliding speed 
makes landing possible in a very small space because it 
lessens the length of the run after the plane has landed. 
In the test the Tanager literally hopped over a 35-foot 
obstacle only 50 feet away from the beginning of the 
take-off, and landed only 293 feet from it on the other side. 








280 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


As the confidence of the public is gained by the appli¬ 
cation of such safety measures in airplanes, it is plain 
to see how bright the future is for aircraft manufacturers. 
The airplane will rival the automobile as a means of travel. 


Some Present and Future Uses of the Airplane 

The great source of profit for commercial aviation in 
the future will probably be in the transportation of express 
rather than passengers. Express of equal weight can be 
carried more cheaply, for an express package needs no 
attendants or conveniences to make it comfortable, it 
needs no extra weight in the form of loud speakers or 
motion pictures to entertain it, nor does it need food at 
regular intervals. It can be packed closely, with low 
liability for its damage or loss. 

It is apparent that hundreds of large transport planes 
will be required to take care of even a small portion of 
the nation’s total express. 

Millions of dollars are being carried from place to place 
for big banks. Money is not earning interest when it is 
being carried from one place to another; so the more 
quickly it reaches its destination, the more quickly it can 
be set to work. Since air express will transfer this money 
five times as fast as any other means, bankers will take ad¬ 
vantage of such service. 

More fragile merchandise will be carried in the air be¬ 
cause there will be no vibration and less rough handling. 
Furthermore, heavy crating and extra packing will not be 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 281 


necessary; so the cost of preparing shipments will be 
lessened. 

All sorts of merchandise will be shipped by air express. 
Already radios, typewriters, and machine parts have been 
safely dropped to places of delivery from flying planes. 
Flying grocery stores, fruit stores, and fish markets will 
carry fresh food supplies to people living inland or in iso¬ 
lated regions. Stores will not need so much space for 
surplus stock. A long-distance call to the manufacturer 
telling him of one’s immediate needs will bring the mer¬ 
chandise by plane within a few hours. 

You are familiar with sky writing, and you have per¬ 
haps picked up some circular dropped from an advertis¬ 
ing plane. Probably you have listened as a radio installed 
in a plane has broadcast an advertising program, advised 
you to buy some particular kind of toothpaste or eat some 
special kind of bread. New devices will be developed to 
attract attention and stimulate buying. 

Newspapers are being delivered on regular routes from 
a city press to mountainous regions or prairie towns. One 
pilot from an airport in a western state collects Tunnies’ 
from all the Sunday papers, and taking an hour’s ride in 
his plane, drops them for some eager little children living 
miles from the railroad. An air-mail pilot flying over a 
desert region near the Utah-Idaho state line played Santa 
Claus to the school children of a tiny community located 
in the midst of a monotonous stretch of sagebrush, when 
he flew downward to an altitude of 500 feet and released a 
Christmas tree. Looking back he saw the delighted chil- 


282 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 



Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce of America 

The Ryan Sportsman’s Special 

This plane carries two canoes, fishing rods, camping equipment, 
and special containers for keeping the catch fresh. It can land on 
lakes never reached except by air. The fisherman can fish from 
the pontoons or use the canoes. 

dren and their teacher dragging the tree into their little 
schoolhouse. 

There are vast unexplored and unmapped areas on the 
earth over which planes will fly, taking photographs. Sci¬ 
entific societies, newspapers, and individuals have already 
financed many flights over areas which it would take years 
to explore by any other means. It was in 1924-1925 that 
the value of the airplane for this kind of work was recog¬ 
nized. A group of men spent months making flights over 
the jungle regions of South America, taking pictures, 





GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 283 


making maps, and gaining a vast amount of valuable in¬ 
formation. Since that time flights have been made and 
pictures taken in the Arctic and Antarctic over regions 
never before viewed by man. Hazards and obstacles 
are always a challenge to the adventurous spirit. Per¬ 
haps aerial exploration may furnish opportunity for un- 
thought-of development or wealth in what now appears 
only vast waste areas. 

Real-estate companies will use planes to survey lands 
which they intend to develop. Prospective buyers will 
be taken by plane to get a bird’s-eye view of the develop¬ 
ment, thus making it easier and quicker for them to decide 
where they wish to locate. Oil companies are using planes 
to determine the best routes for their pipe lines, and to 
transport their high-salaried experts quickly from one 
place to another. 

The possession of polar regions takes on new significance 
as possibility becomes evident of their affording important 
landing fields where aircraft en route from one continent 
to another could be repaired or refueled. The develop¬ 
ment of such industries as seal fishing and whaling has 
been made easier and will be more profitably carried on 
in the future by the use of aircraft. A great part of the 
Arctic region is claimed by Canada, the United States, 
and Russia, but there still remain extensive areas un¬ 
known and unclaimed. These parts appear on the maps 
as 'white spots.’ According to the requirements set down 
by Charles Evans Hughes when he was Secretary of State 
in 1924, "The discovery of lands unknown to civilization, 


284 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


even when coupled with a formal taking of possession, 
does not support a valid claim to sovereignty unless the 
discovery is followed by an actual settlement of the dis¬ 
covered country.” If such lands become important and 
settlement becomes necessary, think what the airplane 
could do to make such areas more inhabitable and living 
more comfortable. 


Some Predictions 

No one can foretell just what the motor plants of air¬ 
craft of the future will be, but four of the characteristics 
will be slow speed, reliability, perfect balance, and such 
construction as will use a fuel four or five times as powerful 
as the present fuel. The metal engineer, or metallurgist, 
is busy with his research in producing light metals which 
may be used for engines. New ways of cooling have 
brought out the use of new fluids. Four and one-half gal¬ 
lons of some of these liquids may be substituted in water- 
cooled motors for as many as eighteen gallons of water. 
Such a substitution reduces the weight and also reduces 
drag by lessening the frontal radiator area of the engine. 
Propellers will be adjustable both in pitch and diameter, 
which will make them more efficient in high altitudes. 

Space for landing and taking off will be another problem. 
It is said that 3 per cent of the area devoted to railroads 
and roads in this country would provide sufficient landing 
fields for aviation. If airports could be located through¬ 
out the country at intervals of ten miles in each direction, 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 285 


an airplane flying at an altitude of four or five thousand 
feet would rarely be out of gliding distance from a landing 
field. 

Since roads receive state aid for their upkeep, it is quite 
possible that airports may receive financial support from 
the same sources. Already cities have their own munici¬ 
pal airports. 

It is predicted that one will be able to make the trip to 
Europe by air for $350 when the big seadromes are in use. 
These floating landing fields will be like huge floating 
islands of several acres, weighing thousands of tons. A 
string of them across the Atlantic would make possible 
regular scheduled flights from America to Europe in thirty 
to forty hours. They will be anchored by cables over 
three miles long to reinforced concrete blocks weighing 
hundreds of tons. Landing decks will be above the high¬ 
est wave. An up-to-date hotel will have overnight ac¬ 
commodations for a hundred guests. There will be service 
stations where aircraft may be repaired and tanks filled 
with fuel. Radio broadcasts from these seadromes will 
guide aircraft in flight. 

Dr. Hugo Eckener, who has been so successful in navi¬ 
gating the Graf Zeppelin on its long trips, is an advocate 
of airship travel for long distances. He believes that 
heavier-than-air machines must be confined to overland 
routes, while airships are well adapted to over-water 
flights. With good weather-forecasting service airships 
can avoid storms and safely make regular trips across the 
Atlantic or the Pacific. He foresees such a service over 


286 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


a San Francisco-Honolulu-Tokio route within a few years. 
Already the Graf Zeppelin has made several trips on 
schedule between Germany and South America. 

If one said that one out of every twenty-five junior-high 
school students today would be piloting his or her own 
plane five years after completing a college course, the 
statement would sound extravagant, but the prediction 
has been made that within fifteen years there will be a 
million privately owned planes flying over this country. 
The gentleman who made this statement * came to such a 
conclusion after a six months’ flying survey of the nation’s 
aviation industry. In 1914 he made a similar survey of 
the automobile industry, and the accuracy of his report 
at that time gives weight to his forecast regarding the 
future of aviation. It seems quite possible that, as the 
public gains confidence in the safety of air flight, many 
more persons will own their own planes. 


Aviation and Education 

Aviation is influencing every branch of education. 
Technical colleges are enlarging their scope to prepare 
students for degrees in aeronautical engineering. Schools 
of education are discussing problems of aeronautics with 
respect to elementary and secondary education. 

New York University, in cooperation with the Daniel 
Guggenheim Fund for Elementary and Secondary Educa- 

* Mr. Charles Coolidge Parlin, head of the Division of Commercial 
Research of the Curtis Publishing Company. 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 287 


tion, is giving, under the leadership of Professor Roland H. 
Spaulding, courses by means of which men and women are 
preparing to meet the requirements of the Department 
of Commerce for teachers of aviation ground schools. 
This University is unique in a new method employed 
whereby professors from its faculty are transported by 
airplane to different parts of the state to deliver lectures 
or to meet classes for the discussion of educational prob¬ 
lems. 

High-school students are being guided in their enthusi¬ 
asm for aviation. Subjects pertaining to the industry 
are being added to the curriculum, and regular courses 
are given in many schools throughout the country. 

Perhaps one of the first high schools to start work in 
aeronautics was Galt High School, Galt, California. The 
interest in aeronautics started in 1925. The pupils in this 
high school have the unusual opportunity of having actual 
flight instruction, along with ground-school education. 
Most school authorities feel, however, that the hazards 
are too great to give more than ground-school instruction. 

St. Louis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit, 
and Atlanta are only a few of the cities where an oppor¬ 
tunity is provided for students to gain some aeronautical 
education in one way or another. 


Aviation Clubs 

Probably the most popular method in junior high 
schools is that of the organization of aviation clubs. These 





The Aeronautics Club of the Washington Junior High School, Mount 

Vernon, New York 

This club is working under the author’s direction. The five charts on the wall at 
the right are a display of air-mail envelopes. 

























































GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 289 


are conducted by the students themselves as an extra¬ 
curricular activity. 

One club in Elizabeth, New Jersey, is composed of boys 
and girls who call themselves the Lafayette Air Cadets. 
They are divided into four squadrons with a cadet cap¬ 
tain in charge of each squadron. The squadrons rotate, 
so that each spends a two-week period in each of four divi¬ 
sions. At the end a test is given covering all the instruc¬ 
tion, and each cadet who passes successfully is given his 
‘wings.’ The club has accumulated some aeronautical 
equipment, and members have made visits to airports, air 
shows, and airplane factories. 

Another example of a junior-high-school club is one at 
Washington Junior High School, Mount Vernon, New 
York. This club, composed of boys and girls, divides it¬ 
self into committees according to the interests of its mem¬ 
bers. The correspondence committee carries on corre¬ 
spondence with other clubs and societies and arranges for 
speakers for special meetings. A historical committee 
plans a report for each meeting on the history or progress 
of some phase of aviation. Construction work on models 
is taken care of by the construction committee, and the 
excursion committee makes arrangements for visits to fac¬ 
tories, fields, or interesting places. Members of the club 
have constructed models, entertained speakers of note, 
visited shows, fields, and factories. They carried out an 
interesting project in the form of a ‘Junior Aviation Show 
at which some fifty members exhibited airplane models, 
scrapbooks, and aviation-career books. There were col- 


290 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


lections of bulletins, charts, maps, catalogues, pictures, 
and a large display of aeronautical magazines. A collec¬ 
tion of air-mail envelopes, started three years before by 
a twelve-year-old boy and including specimens from dedi¬ 
cation exercises and trips of practically every mail route 
in the United States, besides those carried on famous 
flights, received special commendation from visitors, 
among whom was the mayor of the city. 

Playground and recreation commissions are setting aside 
space where boys and girls may construct models of air¬ 
craft, and are providing them with materials free or at a 
small cost. Tournaments are held where models are 
flown and exhibited. A national model-airplane contest 
under the auspices of the Airplane Model League of 
America, whose honorary president is Rear Admiral 
Richard E. Byrd, attracts boys and girls from all over the 
country. The Model Aircraft League of Canada, the 
junior branch of the Aviation League of Canada, is render¬ 
ing a similar service to boys and girls of Canada. 

It is surprising to note how much knowledge of aero¬ 
dynamic principles young people acquire in the construc¬ 
tion of models which remain in flight with only rubber 
bands supplying the motor power. Elsewhere in this book 
are directions for making airplane models with drawings 
and photographs of them. 

A project worthy of mention was completed by eight 
high-school students in a small steel-milling town near 
Pittsburgh. These boys, aided by the local Boy Scout 
organization and the public schools, painted the name of 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 291 

their town, Midland, Pennsylvania, on the roof of their 
school. The letters were laid out and the painting was 
executed according to the specifications of the aeronautics 
division of the Department of Commerce. Chrome yel¬ 
low was used for the letters and for the arrow pointing 
north, marked ‘N.’ Flyers and pilots are most appre¬ 
ciative of such markings, and the pioneer efforts of these 
boys could well be duplicated by junior- and senior-high- 
school boys throughout the country. 


Growth of Interest in Aviation 

Newspapers, magazines, motion pictures, and radio 
broadcasts have given facts about aviation to millions of 
people. Libraries have set aside special sections for the 
display of aeronautical subjects and book collections. Na¬ 
tionally known artists lend their talent in the portrayal 
of illustrative work relating to aviation. Aircraft shows, 
receiving aid and support from the Aeronautical Chamber 
of Commerce, have attracted millions of people, young 
and old, who have in this way been given an opportunity 
to obtain first-hand information about airplanes, engines, 
and aeronautical equipment. At air races, airplanes have 
demonstrated the fine art of flying in formation or in air 
maneuvers. 

Long ago there were many persons whose views on flying 
were determined by their views on religion. They were 
convinced that if God had intended man to fly he would 
have provided him with wings, and therefore to experi- 


292 


SOME FACTS AND FIGURES 


ment with devices which would take one into the air 
would be an act against Divine Providence. 

How science explodes old theories and superstitions! 
Today man is carrying the messages of faith, hope, charity, 
service, and brotherhood to humanity by the very means 
that were so disparaged in earlier times. For today clergy¬ 
men are using airplanes to take them to many different 
parts of the world to conduct religious services. 


Aviation and International Relations 

The greatest benefit of all to be derived from the devel¬ 
opment of aeronautics will be in international relations. 
The invention of the telegraph, the telephone, and the 
radio have all been contributing factors in breaking down 
prejudices of one nation against another. But nothing 
in the history of the world has ever held the common in¬ 
terest of peoples of all nations like the development of air 
transportation. How France and the other countries of 
Europe welcomed Charles A. Lindbergh when he con¬ 
quered the elements and crossed the Atlantic! How like 
one great family did all nations pause to watch the progress 
of the Graf Zeppelin as it circled the globe! 

The opening of air-transport lines between the states of 
Latin America and the United States will encourage com¬ 
munication and travel, and stimulate a common interest 
in each other. Aircraft will bring the continents of Eu¬ 
rope and Africa on the east, and Asia on the west in closer 
contact with the Americas and with one another. Through 


GROWTH AND FUTURE OF AVIATION 293 

the indorsement of Colonel Charles A. Lindbergh, the 
League of Nations has started a plan for an international 
system of markings and signals and weather and radio 
reporting. The famous aviator says, “Every problem in 
transportation has stimulated commerce and brought 
people of the world into closer contact with one another.” 



















































PART VII 

MAKING MODEL PLANES 

NATURE’S MODELS 

HOMEMADE MODELS AND HOW TO BUILD THEM 


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CHAPTER XXV 


NATURE’S MODELS 

Many of nature’s model aircraft have never been sur¬ 
passed by man’s productions. Fossils which have been dug 
up show that ages ago there were huge flying birds. The 
great winged lizard, called by scientists the Pteranodon, 
must have been “monarch of all he surveyed,” in the sky 
at least, with his wing spread of over twenty feet. Of 
modern birds the great condor of South America has the 
largest wing surface, but the albatross has the longest wing 
spread, over eleven feet. No wonder the albatross, the 
bird which Coleridge tells about in The Ancient Mariner , 
is a great long-distance flyer. 

The humming bird is tiny, indeed, compared with the 
condor and the albatross, but it, too, is an example of 
feathered perfection; it can poise at one place in the air, 
yet dart away with amazing rapidity when it is discovered 
hovering above some flower. 

The soaring birds have long baffled learned scientists 
and have long defied the most careful study as to how these 
winged creatures can cover so much distance, yet expend 
apparently so little energy. The recently developed 
methods of high-speed photography, however, now give us 


298 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


a better idea of the way in which these birds take advantage 
of air currents. 

But birds are not the only creatures making use of air 
pressure and air currents for flight. There are the flying 
insects. Many of these have two sets of wings — one set 
for support, which may be adjusted to different angles of 
incidence; another set for furnishing the propelling force. 
Not unlike modern airplanes, are they? 

Then there is the flying squirrel. How well he uses that 
fold of furred skin between his legs, stretching it out and 
controlling it in such a way that he glides with safety for 
60 feet from one tree to another. Indeed, in California 
and in Alaska there is a less-known squirrel that glides from 
the tops of trees 200 feet high. In East India there are 
flying lizards that are said to be able to make long gliding 
leaps like those of the flying squirrels. 

Then, in the warm seas there are flying fish, some as long 
as 18 inches. They leap from the water and fly for over 
100 yards, sometimes as high as 15 feet above the surface. 

You may see other types of nature’s model aircraft any 
day in the fall as fluffy seeds or thin flat ones go sailing and 
gliding up and down or gliding long distances, carried along 
on air currents. 


CHAPTER XXVI 


HOMEMADE MODELS AND HOW TO 
BUILD THEM 

For a long time inventors of aircraft have put to use 
facts learned from observation of nature’s models and have 
experimented with small model planes. As long ago as 
1871 the idea of using a rubber band for the power plant 
of a model plane — the same power plant used now — was 
introduced by a Frenchman, Penaud. 

Boys and gMs are forming clubs all over the country; 
they build models and compete with one another to see 
whose product can fly longest or highest or farthest, or 
which one shows the finest workmanship. Many of these 
youthful builders of today will be the aeronautical engi¬ 
neers of tomorrow. 

In this chapter exact directions are given for building 
two fairly simple models. This will give you what you 
need to make a beginning in this fascinating field, for to 
fly airplane models that you have built yourself is thrilling 
sport. The take-offs, the flights, and the landings are all 
of breath-taking interest. 

Types of Model Planes: Tools and Materials 

It is well to familiarize yourself with the standard types 
of airplane models that are flown in contests and gen¬ 
erally made by experienced model-makers. These types 
299 


300 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 



United States Army Air Corps 

Boys at Chicago Air Races with Their Model Racers 
are the single pusher, the indoor endurance tractor, the 
twin pusher, and the R.O.G. models. The simplest of all 
these planes are the small R.O.G. models; they are easy to 
build and offer interesting possibilities for improvement. 
The most remarkable flyer of all is the twin-propelled 
pusher, which has flown for twelve minutes and sometimes 
over two miles. A record of twelve and one-half minutes 
was made at one of the National Playground Contests 
which are held every year. 

In addition to these power models, a model glider is easy 
to build, and, in fact, a good model to start with-. 

The general tools and supplies necessary for model¬ 
building are inexpensive and simple. A good assortment 
consists of: 




HOMEMADE MODELS 


301 


A ruler 

A soft (No. 2) pencil 
A sharp pocket knife 
A pair of small round-nosed pliers 
A pair of small flat-nosed side-cutting pliers 
A pair of shears 

A drawing board (or other flat wooden surface) 

A safety razor blade and holder 

A pencil compass 

Thumb tacks 

Stout pins 

Sandpaper, No. 00 

Banana oil 

Acetone 

There are certain materials that enter into the construc¬ 
tion of nearly every model. Most of these materials you 
will have to purchase of stores or model-supply houses that 
make a specialty of providing them. These are: 

Balsa wood (various dimensions as specified) 

Japanese tissue paper 

Piano wire (usually .014" and .016" diameter) 

Rubber (in flat strips) 

Bamboo 

Ambroid (a special airplane cement, or glue) 

The knife is used for carving the propeller blades and cut¬ 
ting the wing frames and ribs. The pliers are used for cut¬ 
ting and bending the piano wire into the different fittings 
necessary for the models. The drawing board is used when 
making drawings or laying out surfaces for wings, rudders, 
etc. The shears are handy for cutting balsa wood. The 
razor is used to trim the excess paper from the wings and 


302 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


other surfaces of the models. A simple holder for safety- 
razor blades can be bought at local hardware or five-and- 
ten cent stores. 

For wing spars, longerons, and braces, balsa wood is the 
best material, unless one is building a scale model, when 
heavier material is used. Ribs, skids, and outline pieces 
are often made of bamboo, bent to the required shape by 
heating over a candle. 

I. A Model All-Wood Glider 

If you want to get results from flying models, it is best 
to start with model gliders. 

A primary-type glider is very easy to build. You can 
do many things with it by launching it from your hand. 
You can even have it towed behind a larger model air¬ 
plane, when it certainly will give you a realistic perform¬ 
ance, if not a real thrill. 

Special Materials Needed 

1 piece basswood, %" x 1%" x 9%" 

1 piece balsa, % 6 " x 4" x 10%" 

1 piece bamboo, % 6 " x %" x 3" 

Airplane cement (Ambroid) 

Your tools are a pencil compass, a razor blade, and a 
jackknife, with some sandpaper. 

Making the Fuselage 

Your first job is the basswood fuselage. You may use 
balsa instead of basswood for this, but you will then need 
to add a weight on the nose to balance it better for gliding. 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


303 



Working Drawing of the All-Wood Glider 


(Adapted from an article by Merrill Hamburg in The American Boy 
Magazine.) 

The drawing shows you the shape and dimensions of the 
fuselage. Its widest point, 1 % ", is just 2% " back from the 
nose. 

Section AA, %" in width, is 4%" back from the nose. 
The tail tapers to a width of %e" at the very rear. 

With a pencil, outline the whole fuselage on one side of 
the basswood board. Then cut it away with your jack¬ 
knife. Smooth the edges down to the outline, first with 
coarse, then with fine, sandpaper. 

Note that at the rear of the fuselage you must cut away 
underneath a section 1" long and Vie" deep to permit at¬ 
tachment of the balsa tail, or elevator. The angle between 


































304 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


the top edge of the fuselage and this cut-away section along 
the bottom is six degrees, as shown in the illustration. This 
angle determines the slant of the elevator; so work it out 
carefully, coming as close to it as you can by observation 
of the drawing. 

Now the grooves for the wings are to be cut. This is a 
delicate job, and you’ll have to handle it carefully and 
expertly. Each groove is -He" wide and just about as deep. 
You must be extremely careful not to make the grooves too 
deep; if you do, you will cut all the way through the 
fuselage. Take extreme care, too, to cut the grooves at 
precisely the same angle — approximately 10 degrees. If 
they differ, that will wreck the setting of your wings and 
throw your model out of balance. Study Section AA of 
the drawing. 

Finish the bamboo skid as shown in the working draw¬ 
ing by bending up the last half-inch of it slightly. To do 
this, heat it over a candle flame or near a hot soldering 
iron; bend it to the desired angle, and hold it bent until it 
cools. Then it will retain the angle. Cement it to the 
bottom of the fuselage with Ambroid, as shown in the dia¬ 
gram. 


Making the Wings 

Next come the wings. They are cut from the 10-inch 
piece of Vie" flat balsa. Both edges are straight (retain 
their 1%" width) for 6" out from the center; then they 
taper toward the end. To get the rounded end, find the 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


305 


exact center of the wing at a point. %&" from the tip of the 
wing and with your pencil compass draw a circle of %e" 
radius. Taper the edges from the 6-inch point to the side 
of this circle, and sandpaper the whole wing down to a 
smooth, properly shaped surface. 

The drawing shows a suggested airfoil section for both 
wing and tail members. It isn't absolutely necessary to 
work out this detail, but a model with cambered wings will 
perform better than one with perfectly flat wings; so you 
will probably want to do it. 

The amount of curve in the wing is. a little exaggerated 
in the drawing. The chief point to remember is that the 
thickest place in the wing should be one-third of the dis¬ 
tance (half an inch in this case) from the leading edge to 
the trailing edge. Here are two ‘don'ts' to be observed in 
making the airfoil: first, don't attempt to carry the camber 
all the way to the ends of each wing, because a stronger 
joint may be obtained between the wings and the fuselage 
if the wings are left flat at the point of joining; second, 
don't make both wings rights or lefts. Remember that 
their wide square ends are brought together at the fuselage 
and that the leading edge must be the heavier edge when 
they are assembled in this position. If you lay them out 
in flying position before you start work, you will avoid 
making this error. 

The Elevator and the Rudder 

You make the elevator and rudder by the same procedure 
used in making the wings. The rudder is just like one 


306 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


half of the elevator. You should not camber the rudder, 
however, the way you did the wings, because you want the 
two sides of it to have the same curve. Make the thickest 
point of the elevator and the rudder about one-third of the 
way from the leading edge to the trailing edge, then 
streamline both sides of each of them in the same curve. 
Don’t thin the edges of elevator and rudder where they are 
to meet the fuselage. 


The Assembly 

Now comes the assembly job. It is easy to cement the 
elevator and the rudder to the fuselage (you have left their 
leading edges square where they meet the fuselage, for 
ease in joining). The rudder fits squarely and solidly into 
the groove in the top of the fuselage, and is not to be set at 
an angle. (If you have built flying models, you have been 
accustomed to twist the rudder in order to turn the model 
in flight. Don’t do it with this glider model!) And don’t 
be sparing with cement; you need plenty of it for firmness. 

Fitting the wings into place is a little harder. First, 
you must find their exact setting. Do this by forcing them 
into the wing grooves, then balancing them on the points 
of a pair of shears as shown in the drawing. Draw lines 
on their lower surfaces parallel to the leading edge and 
from it, as shown in the illustration. These show the 
points at which the shears should support the model. If it 
tips forward, tail up, move the wings forward; if it tips 
backward, nose up, move the wings backward. It will be 
properly balanced when the top of the fuselage remains 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


307 



in a horizontal position. Be sure that the wings are now 
inserted evenly, then on the fuselage mark with a pencil 
the exact places for them to be set and have the glider 
balance. 

Now remove them and squeeze cement into the grooves. 
Reset the wings exactly where you had marked places for 
them. Check the model again for balance on the shear- 
points, and make sure that they have formed the same 
dihedral angle with the fuselage. You can do that in the 
following manner: 

Place the side of the fuselage against the edge of a desk 
or table, with one of the wings just at the table top. With 
a ruler, measure the height of the wing tip above the table 
top. Reverse the model, and measure the height of the 
other wing tip. If the heights are not exactly even, you 
may change the angle of one or the other before the cement 
hardens. While the cement is drying, the glider should 
rest on the table in a flying position, tail up, with supports 
under it. The wings also should be supported to prevent 
them from sagging. Small blocks, paper weights, books, 






308 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


or any similar objects may be used for this purpose. You 
will find that your glider is going to be subject to more 
strains than any power model you have ever built; so don’t 
rush the drying. Let it set overnight. It takes some 
time for the cement in the grooves to harden thoroughly. 

Now the cement is set, and the glider is ready for action. 
It will probably be well to select a favorable place out¬ 
doors where there is less danger of a crash against obstacles. 
Take it between thumb and forefinger, holding it just be¬ 
low the wing; be sure that it is horizontal; then launch it 
directly forward. After a few trial launchings you’ll be 
an expert. You’ll learn to make it loop, glide straight, or 
make a big circle, all by varying the manner in which you 
launch it. 


Performance 

If it has a tendency to 'hunt’ — that is, to dive in a long 
curve, stall, and dive again — you’ll need to add a pin or so, 
or maybe as much as a thumb tack, to the nose of the 
fuselage. Your wing is too far forward, and nose weight 
will remedy the difficulty; but don’t add any more than 
you have to, for weight will reduce its gliding ability. 

Once it’s set just right and you know how to handle it, 
you can do many things with your model glider. You can 
hold it over your head in a stiff breeze and see it rise right 
into the wind. You can launch it from the hilltop — re¬ 
member that the wind should be blowing up the hill, and 
that you must always launch it against the wind — and 
watch it soar far above your head. You can hold a glider 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


309 


contest with other members who have built similar models. 

And maybe you will be setting new model glider records. 
Whether you do or not, you will be learning many things 
about gliding angles, lift, and so forth that will help you 
when you build your flying models. 

II. The Baby R.O.G. 

The Baby R.O.G. (“Rise Off the Ground”) is the 
simplest and easiest power model to build. It can be made 
to dive, zoom, loop, and barrel roll, and, if properly con¬ 
structed and adjusted, it will sail for at least one minute. 

Materials 

The materials necessary to build the Baby R.O.G. are 
as follows: 

1 pc. balsa %" x y 32 " x 36" (for wing spars and ribs) 

1 pc. balsa %" x %" x 9" (for fuselage) 

1 pc. balsa %" x %" x 6" (for propeller block) 

2 pc. balsa y 16 x 1" x 1" (for wheels) 

1 pc. Japanese tissue paper (for covering wings and tail sur¬ 
faces) 

18" piano wire .014" diameter (for frames of rudder and tail 
surfaces and can) 

20" piano wire .016" diameter (for landing gear, wing clips, 
rear hook, and propeller shaft) 

2 feet of Vs" flat rubber (for motor) 

2 small washers 


Making the Fuselage 

Start with the fuselage. Take the piece of balsa Vs" x 
Vs" x 9" and at a point 1*4" from one end taper it down to 


310 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 



Working Drawing of the Baby R. 0. G. 


(Adapted from an article by Merrill Hamburg in The American 
Boy Magazine.) 





































































HOMEMADE MODELS 


311 



(From an article by Merrill Hamburg in The American Boy 
Magazine.) 





312 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


one-half the thickness of the stick. (See section of fuse¬ 
lage, Figure II, marked “taper” in the drawing.) 

Making the Landing Gear 

Take the two pieces of balsa Vi6 ,r x 1" x 1". With the 
ruler draw light diagonals on the face of each piece. Where 
the diagonals intersect will be the center of the wheel which 
is to be made. With a pencil compass make a circle with 
%" radius, then trim to the circle, making a wheel %" in 
diameter. Lay a sheet of paper on your drawing board 
and with pencil and ruler draw to full size the lay-out of 
the landing gear shown at Figure V in the diagram. From 
the piano wire .016" in diameter cut a piece twelve inches 
long. Bend this piece of wire into shape so that it will lie 
exactly on the line of your drawing. Put the wheels in 
place with the wire passing through the center marks. 
Then put a drop of glue on the end of each axle. Set the 
landing gear aside until the glue has hardened. 

Making the Thrust-Bearing, Rear Hook, and Can 

Make the thrust-bearing by bending a piece of .016" 
piano wire with the round-nosed and the flat-nosed pliers. 
The small loop takes the propeller shaft. Note that the 
flat section that lies along the fuselage ends in a tiny spur 
than can be pushed into the balsa wood. 

Cut off a one-inch piece of the .016" piano wire. Bend 
one end of this into a hook to form the rear hook, as shown 
on the drawing of the fuselage. Make a spur on the tip 
of the flat section. 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


313 


Cut off a one-inch piece of the .014" piano wire. Bend 
this into a loop to form the can. Notice that this can is 
to fit over the fuselage to make a guide for the rubber motor. 

Mounting the Thrust-Bearing, Rear Hook, and Can 

Glue the thrust-bearing to the thick end (front) of the 
fuselage (motor stick) after pushing the short spur into 
the wood. At a point 114" from the tapered end (rear) 
of the stick, push the spur of the rear hook into the wood 
and glue the hook in place. At a point 314 " from the front 
end of the stick, glue the can in place. Set the motor stick 
aside until the glue has hardened. 

Making the Horizontal Tail Surface and the 
Vertical Tail Surface 

With the thumb-tacks pin the sheet of Japanese tissue 
paper upon the drawing board. On this tissue paper trace 
an exact-size drawing of both the horizontal tail surface 
and the vertical tail surface, as shown in the drawing. 
Drive pins into the board along the outlines drawn as 
shown. Cut two pieces of the .014" piano wire so that 
one piece is 10%" long and the other is 6%" long. Bend 
the pieces of wire to the shapes drawn on the paper. Be 
careful not to kink the wire, and see that the wire conforms 
to the drawings. Finally, glue the wire to the paper, plac¬ 
ing the glue outside the wire only. The point to remember 
is to get the Ambroid glue under the wires without using 
too much. When the glue has dried well, remove the pins 


314 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


and glue the places where they were. After these spots 
of glue have dried, trim off the extra paper with the 
razor. 

Assembling the Vertical Surface, the Horizontal Surface, 
and the Landing Gear on the Fuselage 

Insert the short end (marked “spur” on the drawing) of 
the rudder, or vertical tail-frame, wire into the end of the 
motor stick next the rear hook and glue the other end 
(marked “tang”) to the fuselage. Put glue on the under¬ 
side of the rear end of the fuselage and glue the horizontal 
tail surface to this under side of the stick, taking care that 
the stick is exactly centered above the tail surface. Then 
mount the landing gear about 114" from the front end of 
the stick. Set aside until the glue has thoroughly dried. 

Making the Wings 

With thumb tacks, fasten a piece of Japanese tissue 
paper, 14" x 3" or larger, upon the drawing board. Then, 
with a soft pencil, very carefully draw full size the right 
and left wings and show the exact position of the four 
spars and the six ribs. Follow the wing dimensions shown 
at Figure I in the working drawing. 

Now, to construct the wings, with shears or a sharp knife 
cut the four spars of the proper lengths from the strip of 
balsa 14 " x 34 2 " x 36". Give one side of each spar a light 
coat of the Ambroid glue and glue all four of them to the 
drawings you have made on the tissue paper. Next, cut 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


315 


and fit the six ribs. Give one side of them a light coat of 
glue and glue them to the proper positions on the wing 
drawings. Apply an extra drop of Ambroid at every place 
where the spars and rigs are joined. Put weights on the 
spars and ribs while they are drying, so that there will be 
no chance of their warping. 

Making and Attaching the Wing Clips 

The next step is to make the wing clips. These are made 
from the .016" piano wire. To make the front wing clip, 
cut a piece of wire 1%" long and bend it into the shape 
shown in Figure IV, being careful to include the short spurs 
(at each tip of the clip) that are pushed into the wood of 
the wing spars. To make the rear wing clip, cut a piece 
of wire 2%" long and bend it into the shape shown in 
Figure IV. (For exact dimensions see the two drawings 
marked “Front” and “Rear” in Figure IV of the working 
drawing.) 

When the glue on the wings is perfectly dry, trim off all 
excess paper and then glue the wing clips in place. Glue 
the small clip to the front, or leading, edge of each wing 
and the larger clip to the rear of each wing, as shown in 
Figure IV. Notice that, to show better the method of at¬ 
tachment, this figure is shown bottom side up in the work¬ 
ing drawing; that is, the surface of the wing spars to which 
the clips are glued will be the under surface when the wings 
are attached to the fuselage stick. Notice also that the 
rear wing clip, made of a longer piece of wire, and bent with 
longer sides, sets the rear edge of the wings off from the 


316 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


fuselage; that is, the rear edge of the wing will be lower 
than the front, or leading, edge. This shows clearly in the 
photograph of the completed model. 

The wings not only slope upward from rear to front, but 
also slope upward from the fuselage to the wing tips. This 
slope amounts to one inch vertically (see lower part of the 
wing drawing, Figure I and also the front and rear wing 
clips in Figure IV) and is made by bending the two wing 
clips very carefully with flat-nosed pliers before the wings 
are attached to the motor stick. 

Making the Propeller 

On the broad surfaces of the balsa propeller block, %" x 
x 6", draw diagonals as shown in Figure III, A. At 
the intersection of these diagonals drill a hole through the 
block to take the propeller shaft. Use a drill smaller than 
the .016" wire, and be sure to hold the drill exactly per¬ 
pendicular to the block. Now with a sharp knife carve 
out the center sections, as shown in Figure III, B, leaving 
the middle about %" thick. 

Next draw a diagonal across one end of the block, as 
shown in Figure III, B. On the other end draw a diagonal 
in the opposite direction. Carve the block away above 
the two diagonals, as shown in Figure III, C. 

The wood below the diagonals is next cut away until the 
blades are about Vi 6 " thick. After that use fine sandpaper, 
instead of a knife, very carefully dressing down the blades 
until they are about 14 2 " thick and the hub is about Vig" 
thick. The 'prop’ is a delicate job. On some models made 


HOMEMADE MODELS 


317 



Here are some suggestions for decorating your assembled model. 

by expert model-builders, the blades are scarcely thicker 
than a sheet of paper. 

Finally round off the tips of the blades (see the drawing 
of the assembled model) and cut away the hub sections, so 
that the blades are wider at the tip than at the center. 

For the propeller shaft take the remaining piece of .016" 
diameter wire, which should be approximately 1%" long. 








318 


MAKING MODEL PLANES 


With the flat-nosed pliers bend one end into a square- 
cornered L, with a short spur on the tip of the L. Put the 
long, straight end of the wire through the hole of the pro¬ 
peller from front to back, pushing the spur into the balsa 
wood. Then glue the L arm of the wire to the face of the 
propeller. Put Ambroid around the hub also to strengthen 
the propeller at that point. 

After this glue is thoroughly hard, put the two small 
washers on the wire, run the wire through the hole in the 
thrust bearing, and with your round-nosed pliers bend the 
end of the wire into a loop (propeller shaft hook shown in 
Figure III, D) to take the front end of the rubber motor. 
The washers are tiny thin metal pieces with holes not 
much bigger than a needle would pass through. Tiny 
beads are sometimes used instead of brass washers. 

The Final Assembly 

Attach the two-strand rubber motor to the propeller 
shaft hook, pass it through the can, and attach it to the 
rear hook. The rubber should be just long enough to keep 
the propeller pulled up against its thrust bearing before 
the motor is wound up. 

Clip the wings on to the under side of the fuselage about 
two-thirds of the way from the front end of it. 

The exact point to clip on the wings you will have to 
find out by gliding the model. If the wings are properly 
adjusted, the model will level off when you glide it and 
come to the floor in a three-point landing. If the wings 
are too far forward, the plane will stall; if they are too far 


HOMEMADE MODELS 319 

back, it will dive to the floor. Experiment until it glides 
smoothly and evenly. 

Now you can make your first trial flight ‘under power/ 
Wind the propeller clockwise for about 150 turns and then 
launch the plane for its maiden flight. With a little pa¬ 
tience and practice you can make the R.O.G. loop, barrel 
roll, and fly on a straight-away for as long as one minute. 









GLOSSARY 


(Adapted from a Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, by permission, 

and with the endorsement, of Roland H. Spaulding, of New York Uni¬ 
versity.) 

Acrobatic Flying —Intentional maneuvers with an aircraft which 
are not necessary to air navigation. (See Chapter XX.) 

Aerodrome —An extensive tract of level ground suitable for, or de¬ 
voted to, the. take-off, landing, and evolutions of aircraft; a flying 
field. 

Aerodynamics —The branch of dynamics which treats of the air and 
other gaseous bodies under the action of force, and of their me¬ 
chanical effects. 

Aeronautics —The science and art concerned with the flight of air¬ 
craft, both lighter-than-air and heavier-than-air. 

Aileron—A hinged movable surface of an airplane, usually part of 
the trailing edge of a wing near its outer tip, which is used to rotate 
the airplane about its longitudinal axis. (See Chapter IX.) 

Airfoil—A surface, like a wing or rudder or elevator, designed to 
produce a lifting or directional effect. The words 'control surface/ 
'lifting surface/ and 'stabilizing surface* are often used to indicate 
special forms of airfoil. (See Chapter IX.) 

Airplane —A mechanically driven aircraft, heavier than air, fitted 
with fixed wings, supported by the dynamic action of the air, and 
controlled by movable airfoils. 

Airpocket —The name erroneously applied to a down current of air. 
(See Chapter XIV.) 

Airport—A locality, either of land or water, that is adapted for the 
landing and taking off of aircraft and that provides for their shelter, 
supply, and repair; or a place used regularly for receiving or dis¬ 
charging passengers or cargo by air. (See Chapter XXI.) 

Air Speed —See Speed, Air. 

Airway— An air route between air-traffic centers which is over coun¬ 
try best suited for emergency landings of either land planes or sea¬ 
planes. (See Chapter XXII.) . 

Altimeter— An instrument for measuring the height of an aircraft 
above sea level. (See Chapter XI.) 

321 


322 


GLOSSARY 


Amphibian —An airplane designed to rise from and alight on either 
land or water. (See Chapter IX.) 

Angle of Attack, Critical —The angle between an airfoil and the 
air, which, if increased, will result in a stall. Also called the ‘burble 
point/ (See Chapter XII.) 

Angle of Incidence —The acute angle formed between the wings and 
the body of an airplane, or more exactly, between the chord of the 
airfoil and the longitudinal axis of the plane. (See Chapter XII.) 

Apron—A hard-surface area of considerable extent, immediately in 
front of the entrance of a hangar, that is used for the handling of 
aircraft. 

Autogiro —The name given to a heavier-than-air craft in which the 
lift is obtained from four equally spaced airfoils rotating about a 
vertical axis. The blades are not driven by an engine, as in the 
helicopter, and the forward speed is obtained by the thrust of an 
engine-driven propeller, as in an airplane. (See Chapter IX.) 

Aviation —The science and art of operating heavier-than-air craft. 

Axis, Lateral —An imaginary horizontal line extending in the same 
direction as the wings and perpendicular to both the longitudinal and 
the vertical axes. 

Axis, Longitudinal —An imaginary line extending fore and aft in an 
airplane, intersecting the lateral axis at right angles. 

Axis, Vertical —An imaginary perpendicular line running through 
the center of an airplane where the lateral and the longitudinal axes 
intersect. (See Chapter XII.) 

Balloon —Lighter-than-air aircraft without any propelling system. 
There are various types, such as ‘captive/ (held to the earth by a 
cable), ‘free/ ‘pilot’ (sent up to show the way the wind is blowing), 
‘sounding’ (carrying recording weather instruments but no pas¬ 
sengers) . Captive balloons have various forms, such as ‘kite’ (with 
fins or lobes to head it toward the wind), ‘observation’ (carrying 
a person to observe), ‘sausage’ (shaped like a sausage). (See 
Chapter V.) 

Balsa —An extremely light, easily worked wood, grown in Central 
America and the West Indies, and much used in making model 
airplanes. (See Chapter XXVI.) 

Bank —To incline an airplane by tipping a wing up or down; i.e., to 
rotate it about its longitudinal axis. ‘Right bank’ is to incline 
the airplane with the right wing down. (See Chapter XIX.) 

Barograph— An instrument for recording the pressure of the atmos¬ 
phere, and hence serving as one means of recording height above 
sea level. A barometer indicates, but does not record, this pressure. 
(See Chapter XI.) 

Barrel Roll —See Roll. 


■ GLOSSARY 323 

Biplane —An airplane with two main supporting surfaces placed one 
above the other. (See Chapter IX.) 

Blimp— A small non-rigid dirigible. (See Chapter V.) 

Bumpy Air—A condition of the air in which there are numerous up- 
currents and down-currents. These give an up-and-down motion to 
an airplane flying through them not unlike the motion given to a 
boat by waves. 

Camber —The amount of curve in an airfoil section. (See Chapters 
IX and XXVI.) 

Ceiling —The height of the clouds above the ground or the highest 
point above the ground at which the aviator can see well enough to 
fly without the aid of instruments. 

Ceiling (of an Airplane) : 

Absolute —The maximum height above sea level at which a given 
airplane would be able to maintain horizontal flight. 

Service —The height above sea level at which a given airplane 
ceases to be able to rise at a rate higher than a small specific one 
(100 feet per minute in the United States and England). 

Chocks —Blocks placed on the ground in front of the wheels of an 
airplane to prevent its moving forward while the engine is being 
warmed up. 

Chord (of an Airfoil Section) —A straight line connecting the lead¬ 
ing and the trailing edges of an airfoil. 

Climb Indicator —An instrument used in an aircraft to indicate the 
pitch of the path taken during a climb or a dive. (See Chapter XI.) 

Cockpit —The open space in which the pilot or passengers are accom¬ 
modated. When the cockpit is completely housed in, it is called a 
‘cabin/ (See Chapter IX.) 

Compass, Earth Inductor —A special type of compass that operates 
by means of a coil revolving in the earth’s magnetic field. (See 
Chapter XI.) 

Contact —Making an electrical connection that will switch on the 
ignition system of an airplane motor. The pilot shouts “Contact! ” 
when he is about to throw the switch, to warn the mechanic who is 
turning over the propeller by hand. 

Controls—A general term applied to the means provided to enable 
the pilot to control the speed, direction of flight, altitude, and power 
of an aircraft. (See Chapter IX.) 

Air Controls— The devices used to operate the control surfaces 
of the aircraft. 

Engine Controls —The devices used to regulate the power output 
of the engine. 

Control Stick —The vertical lever by means of which the longitudinal 
and lateral controls of an airplane are operated. Pitching is con- 


324 


GLOSSARY 


trolled by a fore-and-aft movement of the stick; rolling, by a side- 
to-side movement of the stick. (See Chapters IX and XIX.) 

Cowling —A removable cover that extends over or around the engine 
and sometimes over a portion of the fuselage or the nacelle as well. 
(See Chapter XIII.) 

Cross-Country Flight —Any flight starting at one field and ending 
at another that is not within gliding distance of the first field. 

Cross-Wind Landing —Landing an airplane with the wind blowing 
against its side. This is often necessary in small or one-way fields. 

Dead-Stick Landing —A landing resulting from engine failure. 

Dirigible —A balloon that can be directed or steered; e.g., a zeppelin. 
(See Part II.) 

Dive —A steep descent, with or without power, in which the air speed 
is greater than the fastest speed the airplane can make in horizontal 
flight. (See Chapter XX.) 

Dope —The liquid material applied to the cloth surfaces of airplanes 
to increase strength, to make the surface taut by shrinking, and to 
act as a filler for maintaining air-tightness. 

Drag —That part of the total air force on an aircraft or airfoil which 
acts parallel to the path of the relative wind. (See Chapter XII.) 

Drift —The sidewise deviation in the flight of an aircraft which is 
produced by crosswise currents of air. 

Duralumin —An alloy of aluminum that is much used in aeronautics, 
especially for the structure of airships and airplanes. It is much 
stronger than aluminum and considerably lighter than steel. 

Elevator —An airfoil control surface placed horizontally, usually 
hinged to the stabilizer. Its movement causes the ship to climb or to 
dive. (See Chapter IX.) 

Empennage —All of the tail group of airfoils, including the rudder, 
elevators, vertical stabilizer, and horizontal stabilizer. (See Chap¬ 
ter IX.) 

Engine, Inverted —An engine having its cylinders below the crank¬ 
shaft. (See Chapter X.) 

Engine, Radial —An engine having stationary cylinders arranged like 
the spokes of a wheel around a crankshaft. (See Chapter X.) 

Engine, Rotary —An engine having revolving cylinders arranged 
radially around a common fixed crankshaft. (See Chapter X.) 

Engine, Supercharged —An engine in which the cylinder charge, or 
intake of fuel, is increased by some mechanical device. 

Engine, Vertical —An engine having its cylinders arranged vertically 
above the crankshaft. (See Chapter X.) 

Engine, V-Type —An engine having its cylinders arranged in two 
rows, forming, in the end view, the letter ‘V\ (See Chapter X.) 


GLOSSARY 


325 


Engine, W-Type —An engine having its cylinders arranged in three 
rows, forming, in the end view, the letter 'W\ Sometimes called 
the 'broad-arrow type.’ (See Chapter X.) 

Figure Eight —A maneuver in which the airplane is flown in a course 
which produces a horizontal figure 8. Flying in 8’s is one of the re¬ 
quirements of the Department of Commerce examination for a 
pilot’s license. (See Chapter XX.) 

Fin —A fixed surface attached to the tail of an airplane, parallel to the 
longitudinal axis, to enable the plane to keep its direction better. 
Same as 'vertical stabilizer.’ Fins are sometimes adjustable. (See 
Chapter IX.) 

Flipper —A slang term for 'elevator.’ 

Float (or Pontoon) —A completely inclosed, water-tight structure 
attached to an aircraft to give it buoyancy and stability when in 
contact with the surface of the water. 

Fuselage —The body of an airplane of approximately streamline form, 
to which are attached the wings and the tail unit. In general, it 
houses the power plant, passengers, and cargo. (See Chapters IX 
and XXVI.) 

Glide—A descent with the airplane flying at a normal angle but 
without engine power sufficient for level flight in still air. 

Glider—A form of aircraft similar to an airplane but without motive 
power. It depends upon gravity and wind currents for its flight. 
(See Chapter XVI.) 

Gravity— The force that tends to draw all bodies toward the center of 
the earth. 

Ground Loop— The movement made by an airplane if, when taxiing, 
control is lost and it makes a quick turn on its wheels. Frequently 
a wing tip then digs into the ground and is broken. A wheel or a 
tire may also give way. . 

Gun—A slang name for the airplane engine throttle. Give her the 
gun” means "open the throttle”; "cut the gun” means "close the 
throttle.” 

Hangar— A shelter for housing aircraft; more properly applied to 
airplanes than to dirigible shelters. . . 

Helicopter —A form of aircraft whose sole support in the air is de¬ 
rived directly from a vertical thrust produced by rotating air¬ 
foils. (See Chapter IX.) 

Jenny— A slang name for the Curtiss JN-4 airplane, used in the war, 

now obsolete. _ „ T . 

Joy Stick— The control stick, really a nickname for Joyce stick, from 
the name of its inventor. (See Control Stick.) 


326 


GLOSSARY 


Laminated Wood —(See Wood, Laminated.) 

Landing Field —A field of such a size and nature as to permit of air¬ 
craft landing and taking off in safety. It may or may not be part 
of an airport. 

Landing Gear —The understructure that supports the weight of an 
aircraft when in contact with the land or water and that reduces the 
shock on landing. There are five common types—boat type, float 
type, skid type, wheel type, and ski type. (See Chapters IX 
and XXVI.) 

Landing ‘T’—A large marker, shaped like a capital T, laid out on a 
landing field or on top of a building to guide flyers in landing and 
taking off. 

Landing, Three-Point —A landing such that the two wheels and the 
tail skid touch the ground at the same instant. (See Chapter XIX.) 

Leading Edge —The foremost edge of an airfoil or propeller blade. 
Also called ‘entering edge/ (See Chapter IX.) 

Lift —That part of the total air force on an aircraft or airfoil that 
tends to push the plane upward against gravity. (See Chapter 
XII.) 

Load, Useful —The crew and passengers, oil and fuel, ballast and 
portable equipment. 

Load, Pay —That part of the useful load from which revenue is de¬ 
rived, usually passengers and freight. 

Longeron —A part of the framing of an airplane fuselage or nacelle 
that extends fore and aft. (See Chapter IX.) 

Loop —A maneuver in which the airplane describes a circle in a per¬ 
pendicular plane; the lateral axis of the plane remains horizontal. 
(See Chapter XX.) 

Monoplane —An airplane which has but one main supporting surface, 
sometimes divided into two parts by the fuselage. In a high-wing 
monoplane the wings are placed well above the center of gravity; 
in a low-wing monoplane the wings are attached at the lower 
longeron, usually below the center of gravity; while in a middle-wing 
monoplane the wings are attached to the fuselage near its middle, 
vertically, at approximately the center of gravity. (See Chap¬ 
ter IX.) 

Multiplane —An airplane with two or more main supporting surfaces, 
placed one above the other. (See Chapter IX.) 

Nacelle —An enclosed shelter for passengers or for a power plant. 

A nacelle is usually shorter than a fuselage and does not carry the 
tail unit. (See Chapter IX.) 

Nose Heavy —The condition of an airplane in normal flight such that, . 
if the longitudinal controls were released, the nose would drop. 
(See Chapter XXVI.) 


GLOSSARY 327 

Ornithopter —A heavier-than-air aircraft, driven by flapping wings. 
(See Chapter IX.) 


Pancake —To level off an airplane at a greater altitude than normal 
in landing, thus causing it to stall and to come down flat. 

Parachute —An apparatus, usually umbrella-shaped, used to slow the 
descent of a person or an object. (See Chapter XV.) 

Petrol —Word used by the French and English for gasoline. 

Plywood —A material formed by gluing together two or more layers 
of wood to secure strength with lightness. 

Pontoon —(See Float.) 

Power —The rate of doing work. One horsepower is the power that 
will lift 550 pounds one foot in one second. 

Prop —Common abbreviation for ‘propeller.’ 

Propeller, Adjustable Pitch—A propeller with blades that may be 
set to any desired pitch when the propeller is stationary. 

Propeller, Control Pitch, or Variable Pitch —A propeller with 
blades that may be set at any desired pitch while the propeller is 
rotating. 

Propeller, Pusher —A propeller mounted to the rear of the engine 
or propeller shaft. It is usually behind the wing cell or nacelle. 

Propeller, Tractor —A propeller mounted on the forward end of the 
engine or propeller shaft. It is usually forward of the fuselage or 
wing nacelle. 

Rate of Climb —The number of feet per minute an airplane gains 
altitude. 

Rev—A slang term for ‘revolutions’ or ‘revolve.’ ‘Revving up’ is 
running the motor to warm it or test it before taking off. 

Rigging (Airplane)—T he assembling, adjusting, and aligning of the 
parts of an airplane. 

Rip Cord (Parachute) —A device that holds the pack cover to the 
cones on the pack frame. The pack cover is opened by pulling a 
ring at the end of the rip cord. (See Chapter XV.) 

Roll —Movement of an airplane about its longitudinal axis; that is, 
turning over so that, while continuing to fly forward, it is now right 
side up, then upside down, then right side up again. (See Chap¬ 
ter XX.) 

Rotor —The name given to a group of airfoils revolving about a vertical 
axis from which heavier-than-air craft, like the autogiro and the 
D’Ascanio helicopter, gain the greater part of their lift. The rotor 
may be revolved by an engine or by the force of the relative wind. 
(See Chapter IX.) 

R. P. M.—Revolutions per minute. (See Chapter XIX.) 


328 GLOSSARY 

Rudder —A movable airfoil that guides an aircraft the way a rudder 
guides a boat. 

Rudder Bar —The foot bar by means of which the control cables 
leading to the rudder are operated. 

Runway— A long, smooth area on a landing field especially pre¬ 
pared for the take-off of airplanes. 

Safety Belt —A belt used to hold the aviator or passengers in their 
seats. It has a special clasp that permits quick release. Safety 
belts or an equivalent for pilots and passengers are required by 
the Department of Commerce in all airplanes. 

Seaplane —An airplane designed to rise from and alight on water. 
This general term applies to both boat and float types, though the 
boat type is usually designated as a ‘flying boat/ (See Chapter IX.) 

Ship —A term used for an aircraft, either lighter than air or heavier 
than air. 

Shock Absorber—A device fitted to the landing gear of airplanes for 
the purpose of reducing the shock of landing. In a common type 
oil is forced slowly through a small hole in a piston that slides in an 
oil-filled cylinder. 

Side-Slipping —Flight in which the lateral axis is tipped and the air¬ 
plane slides in the direction of the lower wing. The opposite of 
skidding. (See Chapter XX.) 

Skid —A runner used as a part of the landing gear and designed to aid 
the aircraft in landing or taxiing. (See Chapter IX.) 

Skidding —Sliding outward while making a turn. The opposite of 
side-slipping. 

Sky Writing —A trail of smoke or similar substance left in the air 
by an airplane. The pilot guides the ship along a path that will 
form letters from the trail of smoke. 

Slipstream —The stream of air driven astern by the propeller. (See 
Chapter XX.) 

Speed, Air —The velocity of an aircraft relative to the air through 
which it is passing. It is recorded by the air-speed indicator. (See 
Chapter XI.) 

Speed, Ground —The horizontal velocity of an aircraft relative to the 
earth. 

Speed, Landing— The lowest speed at which an airplane can maintain 
itself in level flight and still be under control. 

Spin —A maneuver consisting of a combination of roll and yaw, in 
which the longitudinal axis of the airplane is inclined steeply, and the 
ship descends, nose first, in a long spiral with the upper side of the 
ship on the inside of the spiral; also called ‘tail spin/ (See Chap¬ 
ter XX for diagram.) 

Stability —That tendency of an aircraft, when thrown out of equilib¬ 
rium or steady motion, to return to its original condition. 


GLOSSARY 


329 


Stabilizer —An airfoil, usually located- at the rear of an aircraft and 
approximately parallel to the longitudinal axis, to lessen the pitch¬ 
ing motion and give longitudinal stability. It is sometimes called 
the 'tail plane/ (See Chapter IX.) 

Stagger —The amount of advance of the leading edge of an upper wing 
of a multiplane over that of a lower wing. It is expressed in inches 
or in degrees. (See Chapter XIII.) 

Stall —The condition of an airplane when, from any cause, it has lost 
the air speed necessary for support or control. 

Streamlining —The designing of airplanes and their parts in such 
a way as to lessen the resistance met in passing through the air. 
(See Chapter XIII.) 

Strut —A part of the framework of an aircraft; e.g., the vertical sup¬ 
ports between the two wings of a biplane. (See Chapter IX.) 

Tachometer —In an aircraft, an instrument to indicate the speed of 
the motor in R.P.M. (See Chapter XI.) 

Tail —The rear end of an aircraft, including control surfaces. In the 
case of a dirigible, it is more often spoken of as the 'stern/ 

Tail-Heavy —A condition in an airplane such that, in normal flight, the 
tail sinks if the longitudinal control is released by the pilot. Op¬ 
posite of nose-heavy. 

Tank, Service —A fixed fuel tank near each power unit into which 
fuel from other tanks is pumped and from which the fuel supply 
for the engine is directly drawn. 

Tank, Slip Fuel —A fuel tank fitted with a device to permit the 
quick dropping of the fuel or of both tank and fuel in case of 
emergency. 

Taxi —To run an airplane along the ground or a seaplane along the 
water under its own power. 

Three-Point Landing —See Landing, Three-Point. 

Thrust— The push created by a revolving propeller. (See Chap¬ 
ter XII.) 

Wind Sock—A funnel-shaped piece of canvas or similar cloth, usually 
fastened at the top of a mast, or tall pole, to show which way the 
wind is blowing. 

Wing Rib—A part of the framing of an airplane wing that runs from 
the leading edge to the trailing edge. Sometimes called 'form rib’ 
or 'camber rib/ (See Chapters IX and XXVI.) 

Wing Spar— The main part of the framing of an airplane wing to 
which the ribs are attached. (See Chapters IX and XXVI.) 

Wood, Laminated—A piece of wood formed by fastening together a 
number of strips, or laminations, of wood with the grain running 
parallel. It differs from plywood in that in the latter the grain of 
alternate plies is usually crossed af right angles. 


330 


GLOSSARY 


Yaw —Movement of an aircraft about its vertical axis; that is, a 
movement to right or left, such as would be produced by the 
action of the rudder. 

Zeppelin —A dirigible, power-driven, rigid, lighter-than-air ship, 
named after Count Zeppelin, who first developed this type suc¬ 
cessfully. (See Chapter I.) 

Zoom —To climb an airplane for a short distance at an angle greater 
than that which can be maintained in steady flight. This term 
is sometimes used as a noun to denote any sudden increase in the 
upward slope of the path of flight. (See Chapter XX.) 


INDEX 






INDEX 

(Consult also the Glossary, pages 321-330.) 


Abrussi, Duke of, 57 
‘Aces/ 118 
Acosta, Bert, 40 
Advertising by airplane, 281 
Aircraft, heavier than air, begin¬ 
nings of, 14-19; development of, 
113-121 

Aircraft, power, engine of, 132-142 
Aircraft, power, parts of, ailerons, 
125; air foils, 124; bracing wires, 
124; compression rib, 125; diag¬ 
onal strut, 124; empennage, 123; 
fins, 123; flippers, 123; fuselage, 
122; landing gear, 124; lead¬ 
ing edge, 124; longerons, 124; 
nacelle, 123; rudder, 123; skele¬ 
ton rib, 124; tail skid, 124; trail¬ 
ing edge, 124; vertical members, 
124 

Aircraft, power, types of; am¬ 
phibian, 131; airplane, 131; auto¬ 
giro, 127-130; biplane, 131; Ente, 
130-131; helicopter, 126-127; hy¬ 
droplane, 131; monoplane, 131; 
multi-motored, 141-142; multi¬ 
plane, 131; ornithopter, 126 
Air express, 260-262; future of, 280- 
281 

Air mail, 255-257 

Airplane, development of, 113— 
121; first actually to fly, 15; first 
successful flight of, 25; in the 
war, 116-119; modern types of, 
274-279; present and future uses 
of, 280-284; types of power for 
driving, 122-131 

Airplane Model League of America, 
290 

Airports, approved features of, 251— 

333 


254; commercial, 250-251; gov¬ 
ernment, 245-246; municipal, 247- 
249 

Airship, definition of, 90; first for 
army, 29; first rigid flown, 12 
Airships, owned by Uncle Sam, 102- 
108 

Air-traffic, rules for, air acrobatics, 
213; aviation and the law, 213- 
214; earning a pilot’s license, 215- 
223; flying and landing rules, 212; 
identification, 209-210; inspec¬ 
tion, 210; lighting, 211 
Akron, 105-108 
Albatross, 297 

Alcock, Captain John, 34-35 
America, flight of, 40-41 
American Clipper, 142 
Amundsen, Roald, attempts to fly 
over North Pole, 66; and Byrd, 64, 
83; disappears in attempt to res¬ 
cue crew of Italia, 71-72; dis¬ 
covers South Pole, 76 
Andree, Solomon Auguste, 58-61 
Angle of attack, 154-155 
Angle of incidence, 154 
Antartic exploration, 65-66; 74-85 
Anti-cyclones, 168-169 
Arnold, Leslie P., 36 
Arctic exploration, 55-73 
Aspect ratio, 154 

Aviation, growth and future of, 
273-293; influence on education 
of, 286-287; opportunities in, 265- 
272; predictions for, 284-286 
Aviation clubs, 287-291 
‘Aviation Country Club,’ 249-250 
Aviation League of Canada, 290 
Axes of a plane in flight, 150 





334 


INDEX 


Baby R. 0. G., directions for mak¬ 
ing model of, 309-318 
Bacon, Roger, 4 
Balbo, General Italo, 47-48 
Balchen, Bernt, 40-41; 43; 79-80; 
82-84 

Balloon, Andree’s, 58-60 
Balloon Race, Gordon Bennett In¬ 
ternational, 10 

Balloons, captive, 91; early, 6-10; 
free, 90, 158; sounding, 172-173; 
types of, 89-92 
Banking of a plane, 228 
‘Barnstormers,’ 113—115 
Barometers, aneroid, 167-168; mer¬ 
cury, 167 

Battleships, first planes to land 
upon and rise from the decks of, 
29 

Beachy, Lincoln, 237 
Bellonte, Maurice, 43-46 
Bennett, Floyd, death of, 42-43; 
flight with Byrd over North Pole, 
61, 63-64 

Bladud, king of Britain, 4 
Blanchard, Jean Pierre, 8-9 
Blau Gas, 95 

Bleriot, crosses English Channel, 
29-30 

Blimps, defined, 92 
Boeing 80A, 275 

Bomb-dropping from airplane, first, 
29 

Borelli, Giovanni, 5 
Bowlus, William Henry, 191 
Breese, Lieut. J. L., 33 
Bremen, flight of, 42-43 
Broch, William, 40 
Bronte, Emory B., 49 
Brown, Lieut. A. Whitten, 34-35 
Bull Run, battle of, 9 
Burbling point, 155 
Burney, Sir C. Dennistown, 98-99 
Byrd, Rear Admiral Richard Ev¬ 
elyn, antarctic expedition of, 76- 


85; early life of, 62; flight of 
across Atlantic, 40^1; flight of 
over North Pole, 61, 63-64; in¬ 
terest of in junior aviation, 290 

Camber, 15; 125; 153 
‘Caterpillar Club,’ 185 
Cavendish, Henry, 89 
Cayley, Sir George, 15 
Chamberlain, Clarence D., 40 
Channel, English, first flights across, 
by airplane, 30; by balloon, 8-9; 
by woman pilot, 30; non-stop 
over and back, 30 
Chanute, Octave, 19-20; 22 
Charles, Prof. J. A. C., 8 
Chicago, flight of, 36 
‘Chord’ of airplane wing, 154 
Churchill, Winston, 34-35 
Cierva, Juan de la, 127 
City of New York, 78; 84 
Civil War, American, use of bal¬ 
loons in, 9-10 
Clouds, 165-166 
Coli, Capt. Francois, 37 
Collier, Robert J., 130 
Columbia, flight of, 40 
Condor, 197; 297 
Consolidated Commodore, 275 
Coste, Capt., Dieudonne, 43-46; 
147 

Cowling, 152 
Curtiss Condor, 275 
Curtiss, Glenn, 27-29; 130; list of 
achievements of, 29 
Curtiss planes, use of in the war, 
29 

Cyclones, 168-169 
Daedalus, 3 

Daily Mail, London, 33 
Daniel Guggenheim Fund for the 
Promotion of Aeronautics, 278 
D’Arlandes, Marquis, 8 
da Vinci, Leonardo, 4-5; 187 



INDEX 


335 


Davis, Lieut. William, 49 
Defolco, 19 
De Rozier, Pilatre, 8 
Dirigibles, defined, 90; first, 12-14; 

table of, 109; types of, 89-92 
Doldrums, 162 
Dole, James D., 48 
‘Dope,’ 125-126 
DO-X, 141-142 
Dumont, Alberto Santos, 12-13 
Duralumin, 93; 108; 156 

Eaglet, flight of, 192 
Earhart, Amelia, 41; 129 
Eckener, Dr. Hugo, 95-97; 100; 
104; 285 

Eielson, Carl Ben, 72-73 
Ellsworth, Lincoln, 66-67 
Engine, aircraft, testing of, 140 
Engine, aircraft, types of, radial, 
134; rotary, 134; vertical, 132; 
V-, W-, and X-type, 132 
Engine, aircraft, working of, fuel 
system, 137; ignition system, 137; 
number of cylinders, 139; piston 
strokes, 135-137; oiling and cool¬ 
ing system, 138-139; work of 
propeller, 140-141 
Escadrille Americaine, 118 

Features, in design of plane, 152— 
157 

Federal Bureau of Mines, 90 
Ferrel, William, 161 
Fish, flying, 298 

Fitzmaurice, Maj. James, 42-43 
Flight, description of in an airplane, 
224-230; early theories of, 4-6 
Flight, first, over North Pole, 61, 
63-64; across American continent, 
31; across English channel, 8-9; 
across English Channel by air¬ 
plane, 30; across English Channel 
by woman, 30; across Pacific, 48- 
52; around world, 35-36; balloon, 


attempted over North Pole, 58- 
60; East-to-West non-stop over 
Atlantic, 42-43; non-stop over 
Atlantic, 34-35; non-stop over 
Channel and back, 30; of air¬ 
craft over Atlantic, 33; of dirigi¬ 
ble over Atlantic, 34; over South 
Pole, 81-84; successful autogiro, 
127 

Floyd Bennett, 79; 81-84 
Flying cadets, 271-272 
Fogs, 165-166 
Fokker F-32, 275 

Forces acting on a plane in flight, 
148-151 

Ford, Edsel, 63 
Foulois, Benjamin D., 25 
Frankel, Knut, 60-61 
Franklin, Benjamin, 9 
Franklin, Sir John, 56; 65 

Galileo, 167 
Galt High School, 287 
Gas, illuminating, first used in air¬ 
ship, 12 

Gatty, Harold, 52-53 
Gifford, Henri, 12 
Gliders, directions for making 
model, 302-309; early, 14, 16-19, 
22; flying of in America, 190-193; 
Germany’s leadership in, 188-190; 
methods of launching, 199-201; 
pioneers in the art of, 187-188; 
present interest in, 204-205; 
principles of flying, 193-197; 
regulations regarding flight of, 
201-203.; training for fliers of, 
197-198 

Goebel, Arthur, 49 
Gold beater’s skin, 93 
Gordon, Louis, 41 
Gould, Prof. Lawrence, 79-80 
Graf Zeppelin, ' 93-97; 103; 108; 
286 

Granville, Z. D., 130 




336 


INDEX 


Greely, Lieut. Adolphus, 56-57 
Gronau, Capt. Wolfgang von, 46 
Guidotte, 5 

Gustavus, king of Sweden, 8 

Haenlein, Paul, 12 
Harding, Lieut. John, 36 
Hawker, Harry, 33 
Hawks, Capt. Frank M., first ride 
of, 114-115; flies glider, 192, 204; 
sets record for flight across con¬ 
tinent, 31-32 
Hawley, Alan R., 10 
Hegenberger, Albert F., 48-49 
Helicopter, 5; 16 
Helium, 89-90; 108 
Helix, 140 

Hensen, glider builder, 189 
Hensen, Matthew, 57 
Henson, W. S, 15 
Herndon, Hugh Jr., 51-52 
Herring, A. M., 19 
Hesselbach, Peter, 190 
Hinton, Walter, 33 
Horn, Dr. Gunnar, 60 
Horse latitudes, 162 
Huenefeld, Baron G. von, 42-43 
Hughes, Charles Evans, 283 
Humidity, absolute and relative, 
165 

Humming bird, 297 
Hydrogen, in early balloons, 8; in¬ 
flammability of, 89; use of in Graf 
Zeppelin, 93 

Icarus, 3 

Immelmann, Lieut. Max, 117-118 
Insects, control of by aviation, 269 
Instruments, aircraft, air-speed in¬ 
dicator, 143; altimeter, 144; bank 
and turn indicator, 144; climb 
indicator, 144; earth-inductor 
compass, 146-147; drift indicator, 
147; magnetic compass, 144; pres¬ 
sure gauges, 146; radio, 147; sun 


compass, 147; tachometer, 146; 
thermometer, 146 
Irwin, Leslie, 179 
Isobar, 171 
Isotherm lines, 171 
Italia, flight of, 69-70 

Jeffries, John, 8-9 
Jensen, Martin, 49 
Josephine Ford, flight of, 63-64 
June, Harold, 79-80; 82-84 
June Bug, 27-28 
Junkers G-38, 274 

Kelly, Oakley G., 31 
Keystone Patrician, 275 
Kingsford-Smith, Charles E., 49-51; 
147 

Kipfer, Paul, 160 

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, 22- 
24 

Koehl, Capt. Hermann, 42-43 
Kronfeld, Robert, 190 

Lafayette Air Cadets, 289 
Lakehurst, hangar at, 102 
Laminations, 141 
Lana, Francesco, 5-6 
Langley, Prof., 22-24 
Lathan, 29-30 
Law, Ruth, 237 
Levine, Charles A., 40 
Lexington, 246 
Lilienthal, Gustave, 16 
Lilienthal, Otto, 16-17; 21 
Lincoln, Abraham, 9-10 
Lindbergh, Anne, 31; 191 
Lindbergh, Col. Charles A., enthu¬ 
siastic about gliders, 191,205; first 
solo flight of, 119; flies to Que¬ 
bec with serum for Bennett, 43; 
government trained, 272; im¬ 
petus given to aviation by, 120- 
121; instruments used by, 146- 
147; makes solo flight across At- 



INDEX 


337 


lantic, 36-40; on aviation and in¬ 
ternationalism, 292-293; opens 
air-mail routes to South America, 
257; parachute used by, 185; 
pilots American Clipper, 142; sets 
record for flight across continent, 
31 

Little America, 78-85 
Lizards, flying, 298 
Longstreet, Gen., 10 
‘Looping,’ 235-237 
Los Angeles, 104-108; 192 
Lowe, Prof. F. S. C., 9-10; 13 
Lunardi, 8 

Lyon, Harry W., 49-50 

Mackenzie-Grieve, Kenneth, 33 
MacMillan, Donald B., 62-63 
Macready, John A., 31 
Maitland, Lieut. Lester J., 48-49 
Malmgren, Dr., 70-71 
Manassas, battle of, 9 
Maneuvers, 231-239 
Mapping by aviation, 282-284 
Martens, glider builder, 189 
Mawson, Sir Douglas, 85 
McKinley, Ashley, 82-84 
Meteorology, 158 
Model Aircraft League of Canada, 
290 

Model planes, making, 297-319 
Models, natural, for planes, 297-298 
Monsoons, 163 

Montgolfier, Jacques and Joseph, 
6-7 

Montgomery, Prof. J. J., 19 
Mooring mast, at St. Hubert’s, 100- 
101; at Lakehurst, 103 
Multi-motored planes, 141-142 
My Airships, 13 

Nansen, Dr. F., 57 
National Advisory Committee for 
Aeronautics, 157 
Navigator, 270 


NC-4, flight of, 32-33 
Nelli, Marinello, 127 
New Orleans, flight of, 36 
Nichols, Ruth, 32 
Nobel, Albert, 58 
Nobile, Gen. Umberto, 67-71 
Norge, flight of, 67-69 
Noville, 40 

Nungesser, Capt. Charles, 37 

Ormen, flight of, 58-60 

Pangborn, Clyde, 51-52 
Parachute, da Vinci’s knowledge of, 
5; early experiments with, 178— 
179; modern types of, 179-183; 
testing of, 183-184; use of after 
war, 120 

Passenger service, air, 262-264 
Peary, Robert E., 57 
Picard, Prof. Auguste, 160 
Pigoud, Adolphe, 237 
Pilcher Percy, 17-19 
Pilot’s license, expense in earning, 
223; other types of, 222-223; pri¬ 
vate, 221 

Pilot’s license, steps in earning, 
choosing a school, 218; ground 
school, 218; medical examination, 
215-217; trial flights, 219-221 
Pitcairn, Harold F., 128-130 
Post, Augustus, 10 
Post, Wiley, 52-53 
Precipitation, 164-165 
Pressure of air, 167-169 
Propeller, work of, 140-141 
Pteranodon, 297 

‘Q.B.’s,’ 119 

Question Mark, flight of, 43^6; 147 
Quimby, Harriet, 30 

Randolph Field, 245 
Read, Albert C., 33 
Rhoads, Eugene, 33 





338 


INDEX 


Rickenbacker, Capt. Edward U., 
118-119 

Riiser-Larsen, 66 
Roberts, Mr., 8 
Rodd, Lieut. H. C., 33 
Rodgers, Calbraith P., 30-31 
Rohrback Romar, 274-275 
R-100, 97-101 
R-101, fate of, 100 
R- 34, flight of, 34 

Sail planes, 164; 197 
St. Nelson, Lieut. Erick, 36 
Saratoga, 246 
Schlee, William, 40 
Schluter, Paul, 49 
Schwartz, 12 
Scientific American, 27 
Scott, Capt. Robert F., 76; 83 
Scott, Gen. Winfield, 9-10 
Seadromes, 285 
Shackleton, Sir Ernest, 75 
‘Side slip/ 237 
Slip-stream, 140 
Smith, Ernest S., 49 
Smith, Lieut. Lowell W., 36 
Smithsonian Institution, aircraft 
models in, 53-54; 128 
Soarers, 197 

Southern Cross, flight of, 49-51 
Span of an airplane wing, 154 
Spaulding, Prof. Roland H., 287 
Spirit of St. Louis, flight of, 36- 
40 

Squirrel, flying, 298 
Stagger of airplane wings, 155 
Stalling of airplane, 155 
Stone, Elmer, 33 
Stratosphere, 159 
Strindberg, Nils, 60-61 
Stringfellow, John, 15 
Stultz, Wilmer, 41 

Taft, President, 25 
Tail skid, 124 


Tailspin, 235 
Tanager, 278-279 
Theodolite, 173 
Thible, Madame, 8 
‘Three-point landing’, 229 
Torricelli, 167 

Treatise on the Flight of Birds, 5 
Tropopause, 158 
Troposphere, 159 
20 Hours, 40 Minutes, 41 

Ulm, Charles T. P., 49 

Van Orman, Ward, T., 10 
Veranzio, 5 
Visibility, 160 

Wales, Prince of, 249-250 
Warner, James W., 50 
Warping of wings, 22 
Washington, George, 9 
Water vapor, 164-165 
We, 39 

Weather Bureau, 169-173 
Weather, effect of upon navigation, 
158-173 
Wilkie, 19 

Wilkins, Sir Hubert, 72-73 
Williams, Alford J., 239; 272 
Winds, causes of, 160-164; effect of 
on air navigation, 164; trade, 162 
‘Wind sock,’ 252 
‘Wing-over,’ 237-239 
Winnie Mae, flight of, 53 
World, New York, 27 
Wright, Orville and Wilbur, 20-26; 
273 

Zeppelin, Count Ferdinand, 13-14 
Zeppelin, defined, 92; origin of, 13- 
14. See Graf Zeppelin. 

Zeppelin Endowment for the Prop¬ 
agation of Navigation, 14 









































































































































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